


A Summer's Day

by DancingSkys



Series: Klance Figure Skating AU [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Beaches, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Family, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Japanese Keith (Voltron), Keith visits Lance in Cuba, Lance (Voltron) Speaks Spanish, M/M, Romance, Summer Vibes, and Keith gets to know Lance's family, and they do cute couple stuff together, his niece and nephew love him, the klance feels are strong in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2020-07-07 20:16:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19857412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancingSkys/pseuds/DancingSkys
Summary: After almost four months of busy press tours and too many interviews Lance and Keith finally get to see each other again. Lance has made it his mission to show Keith all the great things about living in Cuba and introducing him to his family. He has missed his boyfriend more than he had thought was possible and it determinate to make his stay in Cube memorable.The best things to do include cuddling in bed, sleeping on the beach, eating ice cream while riding a horse and sharing kisses whenever they want.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I'm finally done with my exams! Phew~  
> As promised, this is one of the sequels for the story. There is at least one more but that I will only upload once this is completed.  
> I will do my best to update weekly and I hope you'll enjoy it.

“KEITH!”

Lance raced like a madman and launched himself into the air, bulldozing into the unsuspecting individual who had just stepped out of the baggage claim and had yet to take in his surroundings. Keith escape a yelp and probably a Japanese curse as he dropped his suitcase and duffle bag and instinctively wrapped his arms around Lance to keep him from hitting the floor. He even stumbled a few steps backwards in order to keep his balance. 

“Holy shit, Lance!” he yelped but Lance just laughed and smashed their lips together. Keith almost dropped him in surprise. Lance did him the favor of getting onto his own two feet and pressed another kiss against his boyfriend’s lips. He leaned their foreheads together and looked into the other’s dark grey eyes, smiling brightly like the sun itself.

“I really missed you,” he said softly and Keith’s shocked expression slowly turned into a fond one as he chuckled quietly. “I really missed you too.” He leaned in to kiss the corner of Lance’s mouth which made him giggle. “Cute,” Keith mumbled mostly to himself and Lance had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing.

He had waited so, so long for this moment to happen and finally after almost four months he had Keith back in his arms. If possible he’d be vibrating from giddiness. He had always laughed about those dramatic reunions at the airport in movies but now he was suddenly doing it himself. It seemed so ironic but then again, he had never expected to fall in love with Keith Kogane in the first place.

Life was still full of unexpected turns and surprises.

“Come on,” Lance said and grabbed his lover’s hand to pull him along. He picked up the other’s suitcase while Keith grabbed his bag and whisked him out of the airport terminal like it was on fire, racing to his car and heaving all the luggage onto the bed of his truck. He really didn’t want to wait any longer than necessary and they had a long drive home to catch up. They talked almost every day anyway so there really wasn’t all that much catching up to do but it was different to talk in person than over Skype or WhatsApp. Lance would always fondly remember their first Skype call with Keith trying to figure out how that stuff worked.

Some people might expect Keith to be… rather distant and unresponsive but he really wasn’t. His answers over text were sometimes short but never distant. He wasn’t much of a texter or selfie addict like Lance was but he tried and he had admitted liking it whenever Lance sent him pics of random stuff or even better; of himself. Keith rarely took pics but when he did they were either funny or cute or, and Lance loved those the most, of himself.

Keith wasn’t someone who wanted his partner to text him good morning or good night every single day, he thought it was repetitive and kind of redundant. On top of that their time zones were completely opposite so when Lance got up Keith would go to bed sooner or later. It would be a silly exchange of messages.

Lance didn’t mind, he just knew some people had to have this in their relationship but he could also live without it. Didn’t mean he didn’t sometimes send cute selfies of him on his bed and saying something cheesy like ‘hopefully I’ll dream of you’ which he knew Keith thought was cute. But it was used sparingly, like a treat almost. Use it too often and it would lose it’s effect.

“Geez, can this thing even drive?” Keith asked sceptically as he took in the battered and rather old looking GMC Sierra that had surely seen better days. The blue color was almost completely hidden underneath a layer of sand and dust while the car body had some obvious dents and scratches, like the car had barely survived a wild chase through the jungle.

Lance gasped in an offended manner. “Excuse you, Blue is just fine. She’s been getting me places for four years. Besides, you won’t get any fancy cars here,” he said with a laugh and ushered the other into the passenger seat before hopping in on the other side and slamming the door shut, the windows rolled down about a third in an attempt to battle the summer heat because the air con was struggling to even turn on.

Lance’s car lugged around probably half his life while he was in Cuba. His skate bag was there as were dozens of other bags with clothes and random stuff, materials from the farm, snacks and water bottles, a whole bunch of CDs in every available compartment and an arrangement of plush doll keychains hung from the rear view mirror. They represented a bunch of different countries Lance had been to for competitions and had a lot of memories attached to them. The newest addition to his random assortment was a picture of him and Keith which they had taken after they had gotten their medals, both grinning at the camera and showing off their shining medals. A big cup of iced tea with a metal straw stood in one of the three cup holders between the seats, some receipts were stuffed into another one and the last one held a cup of candy Lance had been munching on the last few days. 

Lance picked up the cup, took a swig from his iced tea and hummed. Still a little bit cool… only a bit though. Maybe 10% cool.. Courtesy to the incredibly well isolated walls of the cup. “Want some?” he asked and offered the cup to Keith. “Iced tea… well… kind warmed up so probably lukewarm tea but it’s still good.”

Keith took a long look at the cup before he grabbed it and tried a sip himself, humming afterwards. “This  _ is _ good.”

Lance grinned and started the car, the engine sounding like it was coughing up a ball of hay before it purred smoothly… somewhat smoothly. “I know, mama’s iced tea is way better than that sugar water you get from the store.”

Keith hummed and took a few more sips while Lance steered them away from the airport. He snuck a few glances at his boyfriend and smiled. Keith was wearing a pair of black shorts and a white T-shirt, always the type to go for simple and comfy clothes because everything else was just too much of a hassle for him. His feet were stuffed into beat up, dark red Nike running shoes that had certainly been with him for a while, if the frayed laces were anything to go by, and his hair was in a little ponytail.

Wait…

Lance stared at him intently. “Your hair’s gotten longer,” he then said and Keith glanced at him before his eyes flickered to the road that Lance was not watching. “Watch the road,” he scolded, nibbling on the metal straw in his mouth to hide his grin. “And yes, that’s a natural process, Lance. Hair tends to grow with time.”

“Haha,” Lance huffed. “I just noticed because your ponytail is getting longer, didn’t see it before… it’s nice.”

Keith glanced at him for a long moment before he smiled and looked away, watching some other cars passing by and the landscape next to the highway, still nibbling on the straw. 

He’s been in Japan for pretty much all his life, close to Tokyo and whenever he traveled they tended to be in bigger cities so this was the first time he saw a more… southern and rural country like Cuba and it was interesting to say the least. The cars were all old and beat up, some of them incredibly colorful in a way that couldn’t be original which meant people had probably painted them. The roads were not as perfect and straight as he was used to. It seemed more like someone had eyeballed them and hadn’t looked after them in a few decades. There were scooters cruising between the cars with maneuvers that should be - and probably were - illegal. For Keith this was very unusual, Japan was all about order and conformity, but Lance didn’t seem the mind the shuffling of cars that looked a little like auto scooters for grown ups with less bumping.

“How was the flight?” Lance asked as he fiddled with the radio, slamming his hand down once on top of it and the speakers coughed up the sound of music in return.

Keith tried hard not to snort at the apparently very practised routine. “Awful. I hate planes. Thankfully there were no screaming babies or fainting grandma’s this time but still, takes forever to get here. Connections are awful.”

“I know,” Lance sighed. “Getting a good connection is like winning in the lottery here but… not maybe people use planes so there’s really not much need for good connections I guess.”

Keith hummed and offered him the cup of tea which Lance took a long sip from. “Someone told me to greet you,” Keith then said and Lance frowned because he couldn’t think of anyone his lover might have met during his travel. “Who?”

“Dunno, some fan I guess?” Keith shrugged. “She got like all excited when she saw me and said I should say hi to my boyfriend as well after I gave her an autograph so here I am, saying hi from her to you noodle.”

Lance grinned softly to himself. “I like it when you call me that.”

“A noodle?” Keith asked with a quirked eyebrow. “That can be arranged. You’re like a spaghetti.”

“No,” Lance huffed and rolled his eyes. The noodle nicknames were back, not that he minded though. “Boyfriend.” He grinned happily. “I like how that sounds.”

Keith snickered. He knew how much Lance liked it whenever he called him his boyfriend. He’d always preen like a dog who had just been praised and it was endearing. “Well then, boyfriend, please brief me about your family again. I’m kinda still freaking out about meeting them.”

Lance laughed. “You really don’t have to worry about them. I’m more worried about them scaring you off. They really want to meet you and can be a bit over the top and dramatic when they get excited.”

“I traveled for almost 30 hours to get here for you, I’m not gonna run off again after an hour,” Keith said and Lance had no time to squeal before Keith continued like what he had just said wasn’t an incredibly sweet thing to say. “They’re just like… nine copies of you, right? Energetic and dramatic,” Keith trailed off and his lover snorted but couldn’t deny it. It was a family trait to be a little dramatic. He had to have it from somewhere after all.

“That or worse. But you already know Rachel and Veronica and my mom already loves you anyway. Anton and Sonia will love you guaranteed, at the lastest when you play with them which we will have to do sooner or later - probably rather sooner than later. Luis and Lisa are parents so they got all mushy anyway. Marco is a little protective sometimes but he gets his shit together pretty quickly and my dad is easy going. You really have nothing to worry about.”

Keith sighed and rested his head against the window. “Telling me not to worry isn’t gonna make me stop worrying.” 

Lance reached over and took his hand since he could drive with just one easily. There weren’t many cars now that they had left the busy highways and the road was just straight anyway. Holding his lover’s hand was something he had been longing to do for months now. “I know, but you survived the Olympics, you survived the plane ride, you’ll survive meeting my family as well. I swear they are all nice, you’ll be just fine.”

“I really hope so,” Keith sighed and pulled Lance’s hand more into his lap to play with his fingers. He was silent for a while before he spoke up again. “People kept asking about my boyfriend which only made me miss you more,” he admitted quietly and Lance squeezed his hand. “I know,” he said softly. “People asked me the same thing, kept rubbing it in almost. We also don’t have that many cute pictures together which I am very much salty about!”

“I don’t like taking pictures,” Keith whined like a child but Lance shook his head. “Nuhu, mister. We’re gonna take thousands of adorable and cheesy couple pics so I can hang them up in my room and shove them into people’s faces like ‘Ha, look at my awesome boyfriend you loser!’, otherwise I’m gonna cry.”

“Please don’t,” Keith whined. “That makes me feel bad.”

“Then don’t make me cry and take cute pictures with me,” Lance sang and leaned across the middle console for a kiss. 

“Lance, watch the road, dammit!”

Lance laughed loudly and turned the music up louder, a gust of wind from the opened window ruffling through his short hair. “Welcome to Cuba, Keith!”

  
  
  


“ Cariño~” Lance called sweetly and shook Keith’s shoulder. The other had fallen asleep about twenty minutes ago and Lance hadn’t had the heart to wake him up but he had just parked the car and they would be fried chicken if they stayed out in the sun for too long inside of this metal contraption. Not to mention that his mom was probably already waiting at the door and would whoop his ass if he stalled for too long. “Come on, wakey, wakey, or we’re gonna be chicken bakey. We’re here.”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows as he was shaken out of his slumber and blinked his eyes open, needing a moment to realize that he wasn’t on the plane anymore but inside a car. “Hm?” he asked sleepily and stretched his arms as much as he could. He spine popped and if Lance hadn’t been so used to his own spine popping like that he would have been severely concerned.

“We’re here,” Lance said again and opened his door to hop out of the car. “We’ll get inside and once you survived dinner we can go straight to bed. I was also hella jetlagged when I came back from the Olympics. It sucks.”

Keith made an unidentifiable sound but also climbed out of the car and wobbled towards the bed where Lance was already handling his bags.

“And it’s really okay to speak English?” Keith asked after he had fought Lance for his duffle bag and had slung it across his shoulder, walking behind his boyfriend who was pulling his luggage and him along, and rubbing the sleep from his eyes somewhat clumsily. 

“Keith, my man, we are a bilingual household. We speak English at least 50% of the time so upping that a little won’t be a problem.” It really wasn’t but he was more than happy to reassure his worrywart of a boyfriend once more. “Besides, it’s not like you know Spanish or we know Japanese or Korean so English it is. I always speak more English when I get back, they all understand and they might sometimes rant in Spanish but they’ll switch once they notice you don’t understand. It’s really no problem,” Lance chirped.

They approached the rather big house made out of light stone. The wooden patio was spacious with multiple sets of mismatched chairs, a big variety of plants lining every possible surface and a door painted in a light blue color. It wasn’t ones of those hyper modern or minimalistic houses. It spoke more for a long time of work, of last minute alterations and spontaneous decisions. All in all it seemed very inviting and somehow suited for the people who lived here. Cuba was a colorful and welcoming country and the house fit in perfectly.

Lance pushed open the door that was never locked, something that certainly surprised Keith, and stepped inside the house. It was a lot cooler than outside and Keith welcomed this change of temperature with a pleased sigh. He allowed himself a small moment of just taking everything in. He had never seen a floor with such a complex pattern but his eyes immediately fell onto the wall of pictures. It was too much to take everything in at once but Keith was sure there were a bunch of funny childhood memories among them.

“Mama, we’re back!” Lance called as he put the suitcase and duffle bag to the side but knew his mother was just pretending not to have been waiting for them this whole time. She was a curious woman, no way she wasn’t eavesdropping on them already.

“Shoes off?” Keith asked behind him, sounding a bit panicked and Lance snorted. “We’re not in Asia,” he teased with a grin and Keith glared at him which made the other snicker. “Just keep them on for now, you can take them off in a bit.”

“Lance?” 

Carmen poked her head around the wall which seperated the foyer from the living room and her eyes sparkled in excitement. “Ah,  mi cachorro, you’re back.” She rushed over to them hurriedly, kissing Lance’s cheek before she turned to Keith who looked a little like a deer caught in the headlights. 

“Hello, Mrs. McClain, I’m Keith,” he said, voice a little high pitched and his head doing that cute little bow he always did when he introduced himself. Lance had noticed this habit pretty early on. Keith always did it when he greeted someone, said goodbye or thanked someone. It was a habit most Asians had and was apparently extremely difficult to suppress. “Thank you for letting me stay here.”

Carmen cooed and clapped her hands in excitement. “Aww, Lance, he’s so nice!” she almost squealed and scooped up her son’s boyfriend in a welcoming hug. “Of course, sweetheart,” she said fondly. “You’re more than welcome here! And please, just call me Carmen or mom, we’re all family here.”

“Mama, he won’t call you mom,” Lance huffed and his mother glared at him before swatting his shoulder. “I can try!” she snapped as her son squeaked and rubbed the sore spot with a pout. She turned back to Keith with a brilliant smile that was very similar to Lance’s own as Keith noticed. Must run in the family.

“We’re very happy to have you here,” the small woman continued happily. “Lance wouldn’t stop blabbering about you for months. I was starting to worry he’d take the next plane to Japan any day now.”

Lance flushed and gaped at his mother. “Mama, he doesn’t need to know that,” he hissed but his mother just brushed him off like he was nothing more than a fly buzzing around her head. Seeing how easily she dismissed him was almost comical. “He was always moping after your calls and looking up flight connections every other day.”

Lance groaned and buried his face in his hands. “This was a bad idea,” he moaned but Keith thought it was endearing. He smiled at the thought of Lance moping because he was missing him. Though he had to be honestly and say the feeling had been mutual. 

“But enough of that,” Carmen said and steered both boys into the living room. “Dinner will be ready soon, you two can get settled until then. I think the twins said something about wanting to show you something? They’ve been outside all this time.”

“LANCE!” two voices screeched and Anton and Sonia raced into the house through the opened glass sliding door in the living room. It faced a stretch of grass with palm trees before transitioning into fine sand and finally the bright blue ocean further away. It looked like a picture you’d see on an advertisement for a high end vacation villa.

“Lance, Lance, Lance!” the chanted and jumped around him. They noticed Keith next to their uncle who had finally come back after several long and boring hours of them having to play alone and gasped, staring at the newcomer like it was the first time they had seen another human being in their house.

“Who’s that?” Sonia asked curiously with a stage-whisper, her eyes big with wonder. 

“That’s Keith,” Lance said, a fond smile on his face. “I told you about him, remember?”

“Your amigo?” Anton asked after a second of thinking.

“Novio,” Lance corrected and Anton gasped. “Novio… I want my novio as well!” he then screeched excitedly and clung to Lance’s leg which made his uncle laugh. “You have to look for one then, chiquito.”

“Where did you find yours?”

“South Korea.”

Anton’s smile faltered slightly and shifted into a pout. “I need to go to South Korea then,” he grumbled and Lance snickered, knowing that his nephew had no idea where South Korea actually was. “I’m sure you can find one here as well. You just have to look properly.”

Anton didn’t seem convinced but let go of his uncle’s leg and stepped up to his sister who was still staring at Keith in wonder like he was an exhibition piece she wasn’t allowed to touch. “Lance,” she asked and turned around to him. “Can we play with Keith? He looks cool!”

Keith blinked a few times in surprise at being spoken about and Lance tried hard not to laugh at his expression. “You can ask him yourself. He can speak English, just no Spanish.”

Sonia turned to Keith. “Can you play with us?” she asked hopefully, her voice soft like she was a little shy about asking, and Keith tried to figure out what to answer, glancing at his lover who nodded his head subtly but also communicated that it would be okay to say no. “Um… yeah, sure,” he finally settled on. He didn’t have it in him to say no to these puppy eyes. Not that he actually wanted to say no anyway.

The little girl gasped and clapped her hands. “He speaks!” She grabbed onto Keith’s hand and started pulling him outside. “I have to show you my fort!”

“It’s our fort!” Anton argued as he followed his sister and the newcomer hurriedly.

“Nuhu, I built the dam!”

“But I built the tower!”

Sonia stuck her tongue out at her brother and pulled Keith through the field of grass towards the beach where they had built a sand castle. “Look, this is the castle and this, this is the fort and I built the dam here, look!” She knealt down in the powdery, almost white sand and pointed at a high wall that she had built. “When the crabs attack they can’t get through here.”

“We can see them because we have a tower!” Anton called excitedly and sat down next to a tall, somewhat lopsided structure. The tower, apparently.

“And then we can throw sand at them because everyone knows crabs are allergic to sand,” Sonia added proudly. Her pigtails bobbed cutely as she nodded her head.

“That’s…” Keith searched for the right words. He had zero experience with kids and his brain was still kinda slow because of the jet lag and the short nap he had in the car. “A good plan.” It seemed that was the right thing to say because both kids grinned at him and continued explaining their sand castle. 

“See, I told you they’d love you,” Lance said from next to him, hands pushed into the pockets of his shorts and a silly smile on his face. Keith was once again shocked just how attractive Lance was. Obvious he knew and he got enough pictures of him to never forget but seeing him in real life was just a whole nother level. Keith couldn’t really believe he was actually together with this ethereal human being. Lance just had this quality about him that made people want to look at him and want to get to know him. Keith almost missed Lance’s next words because he was so lost in his staring. “It doesn’t take that much to entertain them and dinner is in a bit anyway. After that we can just go to my room and be left alone.” 

Lance knew Keith must be exhausted so he wouldn’t have let the kids whisk him away if he had known they wanted to go explore or do anything crazy. They had complained and clung to him when he had left for the airport earlier in the day because they didn’t want their favorite uncle to leave them but had given in after a while. Meaning; Lisa and Luis had pried them off his legs.

“Lance, look, we built a pool for you and the other mermaids!” Anton called and pointed at a small, blue bucket filled with water which they had buried in the sand.

“Ah, chiquito, that’s so thoughtful of you,” Lance said and crouched down to take a closer look at the ‘pool’. “That does look pretty cool. I’m sure all the mermaids will love it.”

His nephew grinned proudly and continued playing around in the sand, building chairs next to the pool for the mermaids to relax on. They mostly resembled round lumps but… you got the general idea of what they were supposed to be.

“You’re a mermaid?” Keith asked with a raised eyebrow, sounding more amused than anything.

Lance hummed almost proudly. “Obviously. How could you not notice?” He flicked his non-existent long hair over his shoulder in a dramatic gesture.

“Lance is pretty like a mermaid,” Sonia explained like it was obvious, hammering onto a lump of sand with her red shovel. “And he swims like one. Like this.” She made a wave-similar motion with her shovel before going back to beating the lump of sand into a puddle.

“That’s true... guess I really should have noticed then,” Keith mused. He couldn’t deny that Lance was pretty, he thought so himself and knew many other people thought the same. He would have to be an idiot not to see how some people’s eyes lingered on Lance, especially when he was smiling, which was pretty often in his case. “So what else are you going to add to your fort?” Keith asked and sat down in the sand cross-legged. He had never been at a beach like this, it was breathtaking since it was completely untouched and in it’s natural state. The water seemed crystal clear and he really wanted to take a closer look at everything once he’s had a decent night of sleep in his system. Right now it felt like he was dreaming and his brain just had no capacity to take in any additional information so he concentrated on what was happening in front of him rather than admiring the scenery.

“Oh, oh we need a ninja room,” Anton said and started shoving sand around immediately. It was almost too fine to actually shape it in any way but he had a bucket of water next to him that he used to be able to shape the sand better. They seemed rather experienced with building sand castles and Keith would probably be the same if he had a beach like this at his disposal.

“A ninja room?” he asked with a crooked head, wondering how that would fit into the picture.

Anton nodded. “Yeah, you’re a ninja. You need to protect the mermaids when the crabs attack! Look, here. You can train in the ninja room and then when the crabs come you can come out here and then you can protect the mermaids!” he explained like it was completely obvious.

Lance barked out a laugh and toppled over backwards into the sand. “Keith, gotta protect the mermaids, man!” he said in between laughs and gasps. “Mr. Ninja.”

“Mr. Ninja!” Sonia cheered. “Mr. Ninja has to protect the mermaids!”

Keith looked a little dumbstruck. “I… uh… yeah, guess that’s what I gotta do then… do I get some cool weapons? Like a magic sword or something? Gotta fight against the crabs somehow, right?” It was best to just go with the flow.

“We can build you a horse! Your horse can spit fire! And fly!” Sonia squealed excitedly and crawled over to Keith only to sit down into his lap and start babbling while she built a ‘horse’ out of sand. Lance roared with laughter as he saw Keith’s shocked face. He obviously really had no clue about kids.They were just miniature humans but their minds worked so differently. Keith didn’t have any younger siblings or any kids around him so his knowledge was pretty much non-existent. Obviously you couldn’t treat kids like adults but you also shouldn’t treat them like babies so he had to figure out some sort of balance. Lance did it so easily like it just came to him naturally and maybe it was the case. He seemed like the type of person who would be amazing with kids.

“Keith, my ninja, you handsome stud,” he teased and Keith threw a handful of sand at Lance who just rolled away and continued laughing his ass off.

They added more features to the fortress with the two kids for another half an hour, finishing Keith’s fire-spitting, flying horse that honestly looked more like a deformed hippo, the chairs for the mermaids and many more cool things. Sonia and Anton were entranced by Keith and thought he was the coolest ninja alive, something he was more than fine with because Lance was apparently a mermaid. They made him feel at ease and after only a little while he felt completely relaxed once he realized the kids weren’t going to judge him like he had feared they would since he had so little experience. 

They weren’t as good to sticking to one language though so some words they only knew in Spanish but uncle Lance was always there to act as a human translator. They tried their best to talk to him and it warmed Keith’s heart.

The kids were also amazed as they found out that Keith spoke  _ two more languages _ . They had never really heard any language other than Spanish and English in real life so they pestered Keith to say something in Korean and Japanese and thought it was the coolest thing ever. They asked him to teach them how to say ‘hello’ in Japanese and were repeating more or less successfully tries of ‘konichiwa’ at each other and many inanimate objects for the remainder of their time before dinner.

“Lance! Cena (dinner)!” Carmen called at some point from the patio, her voice barely reaching them but Lance still picked it up. “Okay, soldiers, time for dinner,” he said and shook his long legs to get rid off the sand the kids had shoveled onto them. “You gotta wash your hands.”

Anton and Sonia wailed like it was the end of the world and made an attempt to run away. Anton was more successful than his sister who was still stuck in Keith’s lap and struggled to get away. 

“Keep that one there, babe!” Lance called towards his boyfriend before racing after his nephew who really couldn’t get far with his uncle chasing him. His small legs were nothing in comparison to Lance’s noodle limbs and he was scooped up before he could get anywhere. Keith wasn’t really sure what to do so he just wrapped his arms around Sonia in a back hug style to keep her in his lap which she… didn’t really mind. She actually stilled immediately and leaned back against his chest in a rather content manner. Lance came back with Anton a moment later, carrying him on his hip while the boy pouted sulkily. 

“Me too!” Sonia cheered excitedly and wiggled around in Keith’s arms. He looked at Lance somewhat lost because he had no idea what to do and the younger chuckled. “Just pick her up, they’re not that heavy.”

“How… do I carry her?” Keith asked, almost too embarrassed to ask but he really had no clue. He couldn’t even pick up a cat because they just got longer when you lifted them and turned into a furry accordion. He was too scared of hurting them to actually pick them up.

“Like a mermaid!” Sonia cheered and rearranged herself so Keith could pick her up bridal style. He did just that and stood up, noticing that yeah, she really didn’t weigh that much so he didn’t have any trouble carrying her. He also never skipped arm day - leg day was every day for a skater - so carrying someone shouldn’t be much of a problem in the first place.

The little girl squealed in delight and wrapped her arms around his neck. “He’s mi novio now!”

“Nuhu, no can do, chiquita, el es mio,” Lance called and Keith realized they were talking about him which made him flustered. Novio must mean boyfriend or something along those lines. He had to remember this. “You’re too young for him anyway.”

“Age is just a number,” Sonia argued. “Besides, girls mature faster! I’m smarterer than all of you!”

“No true! I’m the most smartest,” Anton called, squirming in his uncle’s arms. 

Lance sighed as the kids bickered back and forth, falling into step besides Keith. “You holding up alright?” he asked the older softly who hummed in return. “Kids aren’t as scary as I thought they would be,” he said and Lance snickered. “Don’t say that too early. They can turn into demons within seconds but yeah, generally they are pretty sweet.”

Keith was silent for a moment. “You know what else is sweet?” he then asked.

“Hm?”

“You.”

Lance opened his mouth but nothing came out so he just looked like a gaping fish, searching for something to say but his brain was empty except for Keith’s voice echoing ‘you, you, you’ a dozen times over. Keith seemed pretty pleased with himself and smiled smugly while the kids squealed in delight. 

“S-shut up,” Lance stuttered and Keith smirked. “Make me.”

“Fu-...” Lance stopped himself by biting his lip and then leaned over, kissing his lover and ignoring the kid’s excited screeches. “Can’t you ask for a kiss like a normal person?” he grumbled as he leaned back and his boyfriend shrugged with that stupid grin still on his face. “Where’s the fun in that?”

They stepped into the house and brought the kids to the bathroom, after toeing off their shoes, where they all washed their hands. Once they joined the rest of the family everyone stopped setting the table to look at the two boys, Sonia and Anton yelling ‘konichiwa’ like a bunch of parrots before climbing onto their chairs with excited chatter about their fort.

“Keith!” Veronica called cheerfully and skipped over to them, pulling Keith into a warm hug. “How was the flight? Did everything work out okay? No delays?” she asked.

“No, thankfully not but I had four hours of transit in London which was pretty boring,” he admitted with a tired sigh.

“Ah, yeah, those transits are a pain,” Veronica sighed, having experience with them first-hand. “But I’m glad you made it here alright.”

“And that Lance didn’t crash the car,” Rachel teased, also coming up to hug Keith. 

“Hey!” her brother cried in an offended manner. “I’m an excellent driver!”

Rachel snorted. “Maybe usually but surely not with your boyfriend in the passenger seat. Tell me, did he stare at you the whole time? He can get kinda distracted.”

Keith grinned. “He kinda did.”

“Hah, knew it!” Rachel called and smirked at her younger brother.

“I did not approve of any Slander-Lance-Club taking place here!” Lance complained..

Keith was introduced to the rest of the family as well, Marco staring at Keith intensely for five seconds before he nodded his head. “Oh wow,” Lance mused next to Keith, draped over his back and looking over his lover’s shoulder. “You’re the first one who was not an instant ‘I hate them’. We are making progress.”

“I’m… flattered?” Keith asked before he was ushered to sit down as well, his boyfriend-leech having to part from him with a small whine which he tried hard not to coo over. 

To say dinner was an adventure would be an understatement. Ten people eating together, throwing around Spanish and English… and some food… was really an experience Keith hadn’t had until this point. The McClain family was loud but also kind-hearted and incredibly connected. 

Lisa and Luis were already married and had children but they still lived with Luis’ parents and probably wouldn’t be moving out anytime soon. No one seemed in a rush to get away nor did anyone want to move out which really had it’s own charm. Keith knew many people stayed with their parents for financial reasons but here it seemed to be anything but that. It felt like this family genuinely wanted to stay together and it seemed to work out just fine. Lance was the youngest at now 21 years old so everyone else was at least a few years older but still stayed together. Keith wasn’t sure how much was culturally influenced but it honestly didn’t matter all that much. It was simply really nice to witness. 

They asked him this and that, about his skating and complimenting him for his silver medal. Thankfully no one mentioned The Kiss, Keith was flustered enough as it was. They asked him if he had been as busy as Lance after the Olympics and he told them a bit about the press conferences and interviews and some horrible TV appearances. 

Everyone laughed along and threw in their own stories and thoughts. It was incredibly lively which is something that didn’t happen in such a manner back in Japan. Shiro and Keith were only two people so obviously they wouldn’t be able to cause such a ruckus on their own so it was somewhat fascinating to see how so many people could have seven conversations at once.

“Mama, we’re going upstairs, yeah? Keith’s really tired,” Lance called once everyone moved to clean up. Dinner had taken even longer than usual and he could imagine that his lover was about to fall asleep any minute now and he really wanted maybe two minutes to themselves before that happened.

“We can still help,” Keith tried to protest but Lance shushed him without even looking. 

“Of course, baby,” Carmen called and poked her head out of the kitchen with a gentle smile. “Get yourself settled. You should really get a good night’s rest, Keith. Lance is always down for a day or two after such a long journey so I can imagine you’d be the same.”

“I…” Keith still wanted to protest but Carmen would have none of it, waving the salad cutlery in a ‘no’ gesture, so he gave in with a sigh. “Alright… thank you for dinner, it was really good,“ he said and she smiled happily. “My pleasure. Sleep tight, you two.”

Everyone wished them a good night, Luis and Lisa holding back their kids from following the two boys upstairs. The stairs creaked a little bit and the wood was already worn down from the many years of use. Lance helped Keith carry his luggage and smiled apologetically as they had to climb another flight of stairs, that one more narrow than the previous one. 

“Sorry,” he said. “I moved upstairs when I started staying in America more because that was more convenient for everyone else and Sonia and Anton have my old room now.”

“It’s fine,” Keith assured him, huffing out a breath once they had arrived at the top. He didn’t look forward to getting all his things down again when he’d have to leave… which he didn’t even want to think about right now anyway. He had just gotten here so he shouldn’t be thinking about the departure already. 

The hallway was mostly just a small space of maybe one or two square meters with a door on each of the three walls. Lance pushed open the one in the middle which was decorated with a bunch of pictures, asking Keith inside with an overly inviting gesture.

“Welcome,” he said and kicked his door shut with his heel. “In my cave.”

“Should I be worried you’re gonna keep me here?” Keith asked with a grin once he had put down his bags and Lance smiled, stepping up to his lover and wrapping his arms around his neck. “Maybe,” he teased. “Because you’ve only been here for a few hours but I already don’t want to let you go again.”

“Shit, Lance, already starting with the cheesy stuff?” Keith murmured, circling his arms around his lover’s waist. 

“Well, what can I say? I’m a hopeless romantic, I’ve been collecting cheesy lines the past months just for you, cariño.” Lance had aimed to sound a little seductive but all it did was make Keith snicker so he pouted because of his failed attempt.

Keith sighed and rested his forehead against his lover’s, closing his eyes. He was tired and felt like someone else had taken over his body but this was still nice. Really nice. “Honestly… I was a little scared that I’d see you at the airport and… it would feel different?” he almost asked, voice quiet and unsure and Lance could feel that he was being serious.

“Different from South Korea you mean?” he asked softly and Keith nodded. Lance remained quiet for a while and nibbled on his lower lip. So much time apart could do that to people… they had been together for just two weeks after all so obviously they would wonder if they had just fallen in love too quickly, that maybe the distance would make them fall out of love just as quickly. 

Lance had been worried about that as well. 

Of course they texted and skyped and sent ‘I miss you’s and ‘I love you’s back and forth but it was different. Saying these things in person or writing them were two completely different things. Lance told a lot of people that he loved them but they all meant different things and he hadn’t meant any of them in a romantic way except towards Keith. He had been worried about this but seeing his boyfriend at the airport had kicked all those worries out of his head. It had felt right, finally, to jump into Keith’s arms, to hug him and kiss him. It also felt right to introduce him to his family, to see him at their dinner table and to even have him in his room now. It might be strange and seem unrealistic but it felt right.

It all felt so right but…

That was only him.

“Does… does it feel different?” Lance asked carefully, his voice unsure because what if it did feel different for Keith? What… what if he was the only one who thought it felt right? If Keith had fallen out of love with him during those months apart would he be able to win him back? Should he let him go? Had they a future together if it were the case?

The nod he felt from Keith made his heart drop and his stomach clench uncomfortably. This wasn’t what he had expected to hear. Of course it was a possibility but one he had decided to ignore as much as possible.

“But not a bad different,” Keith added and Lance could breathe again. “I just… realized that I had missed you more than I had thought. Seeing you just made me go like ‘this is what you should have had all this time’ and… I was a little surprised because I didn’t know I could feel like this about someone. That’s the whole reason why I was so worried. I’ve never had this before but honestly… I’m just really, really glad to be here now.” It made Keith’s chest feel lighter to admit these things. He wasn’t quick to bare his emotions like this but being tired made him more likely to speak his mind.

Lance tightened his arms a little to pull Keith even closer. “That’s some sweet shit you’re saying right there,” he mumbled, raveling in the way his chest seemed to warm up upon hearing the other’s words, all doubts and worries gone from his mind.

Keith chuckled and rubbed his lover’s back. “And you? Any different?”

“Just felt like I was finally reconnected with a part of me that you took with you to Japan.”

“Aww,” Keith cooed. “Are we doing soft confession hours right now? Should I come up with some more cheesy stuff?”

Lance pulled on one of Keith’s ears, earing himself a cute little squeak, before leaning back with a smile. “Keep that cheesy stuff for tomorrow.” He turned around and walked further into his room.

Keith finally got a good look at it and took everything in. The floor was light and wooden, the ceilings made out of dark wood and sloped in the same way the roof was. The room was not a perfect rectangle but had a few corners. The wall opposite of the door was pointed towards the beach, several big windows showcasing the soft sand and blue waters like a picture from a postcard or advertisement Keith had only seen online until now. It seemed somewhat unreal that places like this actually existed on earth but that just made him feel all the more honored to be able to stay here and experience it himself. 

Way better than any vacation advertisement.

The windows were all a little mismatched like some of them had been added later than others and Keith guessed that especially the roof windows had been added at a later point in time since they looked a lot more modern. This might have been just a regular attic before Lance had moved up here so he wouldn’t be surprised. It made a very nice room though, very cosy.

On the right wall was a big shelf with all sorts of arrangements. Books, picture frames, little figurines and a collection of shells. The stuffed animal from the winter Olympics was also there. A small TV took up the middle section and across from the shelf was a couch that could fit two people but no more than that without a lot of squeezing. It was dark grey and looked a little worn with too many colorful pillows lining it. Standing on a dark brownish carpet in front of it was a little coffee table with Lance’s laptop on top of it. To the right of the couch was a big and very old looking chest of drawers with golden handles. It gave the impression of something that would be passed down from generation to generation but Lance just used it as a closet if the lonely sock dangling from one of the drawers was anything to go by.

The further Keith stepped into the room the more he saw of the previously hidden space around the corners. The right nook offered space for a big office desk with a window directly above it. It served as makeup station as well since the pencil holders were filled with all sorts of brushes and different types of products were strewn across the surface if they weren’t tucked away neatly like the rest. There was also a bowl of nuts that Lance liked munching on.

Contrary to the right the left offered barely any empty space since almost the entire nook was taken up by a low bed with some drawers underneath. The walls were littered with different pictures and posters from Lance at competitions, Lance with his siblings, his friends, his family, Coran appeared in a few as well and almost all of them featured Lance with a brilliant smile or a silly expression on his face when he took a goofy pic with someone. Maybe Keith could get behind why his boyfriend loved taking pictures so much. He also kinda wanted to appear on this wall of memories. He did spot a few pictures of the two of them together at the Olympics and one from their first date which warmed his heart.

He did recognize a few of the room’s features from their calls but he had never seen it all together until now. The bed stole the spotlight though because it was just that huge and looked incredibly comfortable and inviting, especially to Keith who had been awake for what felt like two days straight. He was exhausted and all those pillows and cute blankets looked way too nice.

“Hey, hey, don’t make out with my bed when I’m right here,” Lance complained but couldn’t help snickering at the face Keith made. “We can go to sleep soon but you should really take a shower before that. You’ll feel way better, promise. Look, I even have my own bathroom up here.” He took his lover’s wrist and pulled him back into the hallway to open the door on the right that held a small bathroom. “Nothing fancy but it works and I don’t have to share with Sonia and Anton. They always make a mess and take forever. No one usually bothers me up here since it's so small.”

It really was nothing fancy, a little cramped if anything but it would work just fine.

“I wasn’t making out with your bed,” Keith said belatedly. “M’ just tired and it looks… nice.”

“Comfy, you can say it,” Lance teased with a grin. “I know. I love it. My dad and Luis built it. I’d say I helped but standing off to the side and nagging probably isn’t considered helping so… I just gave some pointers. But yeah, it’s great. I always miss it and my room when I’m in America or wherever.”

Lance urged his lover back into his room. “So… I tried to make some space for your here.” He grabbed the lonely sock and shoved into one of the spacious cupboards of the old dresser before slamming it shut again and opening two empty ones. “I dunno how much space you need but if you need more or anything we can manage that somehow. Don’t want you to live out of your suitcase the whole time.”

“How about we do all that tomorrow-” Keith tried stifling a yawn, “and we just go to bed like… right now?”

That sounded like an amazing idea. 

Lance smiled softly and closed the drawers again. “Sure, but go take a shower first. I’ll get some towels for you.”

Keith sifted through his suitcase and fished out a pair of Superdry shorts that were pretty old already and a white tank top. Lance came back with two towels for him only a moment later and explained the shower with a simple ‘do everything but don’t push that blue button on the right or you’re gonna freeze to death’ so Keith took his words to heart and did not push the blue button.

There was some space cleared out for him in the bathroom as well so he put his belongings there and took a shower to wash all the sand, sweat and grime off his skin. It felt awesome and he’d have to thank Lance later for making him take a shower. He probably wouldn’t have, no matter how gross it was, just because he was this tired. A nice and cool shower helped him feel more refreshed but he was still damn ready for bed as he stepped back into Lance’s room. He heard typing from the back and shuffled over to the bed where his boyfriend was lying on his stomach, dressed in some pajamas as well and messaging someone on his laptop with his feet kicking in the air lazily. The lights were already off except for the fairy lights all around the bed which made it look even more comfy. Of course Lance would be a fairy lights kind of guy. He might not look like it but he was digging the Tumblr vibes.

“What’chu doing?” Keith asked, folding his clothes somewhat and putting them on top of his suitcase for now before approaching the bed again. Lance turned around and smiled, patting the spot next to him and Keith was quick to crawl onto the bed and flop down with his face in a pillow with a loud groan. Damn, did it feel good to finally lie down. Like his body was dissolving into a puddle of pudding, like his bones were melting and he was loving it. The thought of just melting into the bed was damn appealing.

“I’m texting Shiro,” Lance said and Keith lifted his head slightly, squinting at the laptop. “He woke up and didn’t have any messages from you so he wanted to know if you had gone missing or if you got here in one piece.”

Keith hummed - maybe he should have messaged his brother - and leaned in to read the messages. 

_ Shiro: Is Keith with you? He didn’t text me so I’m a little worried... _

_ Hey, you know Keith, texting is probably the last thing on his mind _

_ Shiro: Right, because you’re there so he’s even worse _

_ It’s probably an insult but I’ll take as a compliment _

_ Shiro: So he’s with you? _

_ Yeah, arrived in the afternoon safe and sound. He’s taking a shower right now and then we’re off to bed _

_ Shiro: I see… have fun ;) _

_ Haha _

_ Shiro: And tell him to text me at some point so I know he’s not gone missing _

_ Will do _

_ Shiro: Thanks Lance, wishing you two a good night ;) _

_ Takashi you’re an adult, act like one _

_ Shiro: I am! _

_ Shiro: be responsible ;) ;) ;) ;) _

Keith rolled his eyes at his brother’s antics. “It’s weird when you call him Takashi.”

“I know,” Lance said with a grin, sending one last message before he closed his laptop and placed it to the side on top of a small storage space that covered the entire length of the bed. He rearranged some pillows to his liking before grabbing a thin blanket and pulling it up.

“So, I really hate sleeping without a blanket even when it’s really hot so if you need one feel free to grab one, they are pretty thin since it never really gets cold here. If it’s way too hot I can turn on the AC but I don’t really like using it during the night,” Lance said as he laid down again and Keith hummed, also grabbing one of the blankets and pulling it up to his middle. If he got too hot during the night he’d just kick it off but sleeping without some sort of blanket felt weird.

“Alright then.” Lance reached up and pressed a button that switched off the fairy lights and they were plunged into darkness. Not enough to not see anything anymore since the small windows at the bottom of the wall weren’t covered and let some moonlight into the room. It was oddly romantic but Keith was too tired to fully register it.

“I’m really glad you’re here,” Lance said softly and reached for one of Keith’s hands carefully, the latter lacing their fingers together once he noticed. “Me too,” he said, smiling gently which Lance mirrored. 

“I do have to warn you though, I tend to hug people in my sleep when they are close to me so… are you a little spoon or a big spoon?”

Keith thought about the question for a while, his brain working hard to process. “Honestly… I have no idea.”

“How can you not know?”

“Never really slept with anyone in the same bed.”

Lance looked at him intently. “That’s just sad.”

Keith snorted. “It’s just how it is. Guess we’ll find out then.”

His lover hummed and inched a little closer. “I swear if you kick me I’ll kick back.”

“I’ll do my best not to kick you,” Keith promised and Lance nodded his head. “Okay… and I see you’re about to fall asleep so… goodnight Keith.” He leaned over and kissed his boyfriend’s forehead, the other’s bangs still damp from his shower. 

“Night, Lance,” Keith sighed, not having the strength to return the gesture but Lance didn’t mind and just settled down for sleep as well. 

He could really get used to this.


	2. Chapter Two

“Lance?”

No, he was still asleep.

“Lance.”

No.

“Lance.”

Not present.

“Lance!”

Shush! Leave a message after the  _ beep _ .

Something solid kicked Lance’s leg and a strangled sound escaped him as he startled awake, kicking back out of reflex. Keith shouted in protest and glared at him.

Lance grumbled something under his breath and curled up into a little ball. “‘Get a boyfriend’ they said, ‘it’s gonna be fun’ they said, ‘you can cuddle in bed’ they said,” he muttered and glared at Keith with a pout. “Why do I get kicked? Can’t you wake me up with a kiss like a normal person, you stupid paperclip?”

One of Keith’s eyebrows traveled very far up his forehead, remaining like that for a few seconds before he shimmied closer and loomed over Lance to kiss his forehead. “Wake up, babe,” he called sweetly, almost purring and Lance choked a little, feeling his face flush. 

Wh-...

That’s cheating!

“I… could get used to that,” he squeaked and Keith grinned at him. His hair was fluffed up and he still looked a little sleepy but he was up which probably meant one thing. “Jetlag?” Lance asked and the other hummed. Lance sighed and glanced at the clock. It was six am so not too bad. “Alright.” He stretched his long limbs like a cat before sitting up with a grunt.

“You’re not complaining?” Keith asked, sounding a little surprised. He propped up on his elbow lazily and… Lance enjoyed the view for a few second before he gave his answer.

“I don’t really have anything against getting up early.” He shrugged. “I don’t exactly like it but it’s fine. My dad always gets up at six or earlier as well and because of skating I’m kinda used to it.”

“Huh, Shiro has to drag me out of bed on most days,” Keith mused and his lover laughed. “Yeah, I noticed. You’re kind of a bed-person, cariño. But fear not, if you cuddle me I can stay in bed for hours,” Lance promised with a sweet smile and Keith huffed in an amused manner.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Lance just smiled softly and climbed out of bed, followed by Keith and together they made their way downstairs, not bothering to change clothes or anything. As expected Cris was already up and reading a book with glasses on. He looked up as he saw the boys approaching and smiled at them but otherwise didn’t bother them when they disappeared into the spacious kitchen.

“So, breakfast…” Lance rubbed his eyes to chase the last remains of sleep away and turned on the lights. The sun was already starting to rise but it was too dim to see properly just yet and he didn’t live in the kitchen like his mama who could chop vegetables with her eyes blindfolded. Besides, he actually wanted to see his boyfriend in real life for once, not through a screen and he couldn’t do that with the lights off. “What do you usually eat?”

“Usually just rice, soup and eggs… maybe fish,” Keith said after a beat of silence, inspecting the kitchen curiously. It wasn’t exactly modern, it kind of reminded him a little of an old movie but it had a lot of character that made up for any missing modern aesthetic. Most Japanese apartments were all about modern technology and stylish designs so… this was actually quite nice. Different but a good different. It kind of suited the country and the McClain family. There were cups and dishes scattered around on the countertop. All of them were clean but they didn’t have enough space in the cupboards to store them all away. Keith guessed the house had been a bit smaller at first and now the kitchen was too small to house nine people’s tablewear. 

Lance pondered for a while. “Mhm… yeah, we don’t really have rice or soup… or fish… Buuuut I can whip up something else. How do you like your eggs?” He turned to his lover who was looking at the many drawings stuck to the fridge with magnets of all sizes and shapes. Anton and Sonia must have drawn the pictures and it kinda warmed his heart as he realized many of the pictures featured the whole family as stickmen. It was a little hard to differentiate between the different family members but he knew who it was supposed to represent when one of the stickman had a mermaid tail.

“Surprise me,” was all he said, staring a little longer before he stepped up next to Lance who was rummaging through the cupboards already. “Can I help you with something?” Keith asked curiously, smiling at the mismatched collection of everything. Most of the cups he could see had words engraved on them in Spanish that he sadly couldn’t read but it was still an endearing little detail. Surely every member of the family had their signature cup.

The McClain household was not a designer home, Keith hadn’t expected anything like that. It was an older house and Cuba wasn’t the most modern nation. Of course there were modern elements in their house but it was still very different from many Japanese homes that automatically came with a bunch of technology. Everything was a little mismatched but in a charming way, like it was collected over time and every item had a different value. It was colorful and bright, fitting for the family and many pieces of furniture and decoration surely had a story to them.

“No, I’m gonna spoil you on your first day here,” Lance said with a smile, coming up with a few bowls and a pan in his arms. “So just sit down. I’m gonna be a good husband and get some nice breakfast for us. Coffee?”

“Yeah,” Keith said it with a small laugh, somehow liking how husband sounded when the other said it. It did feel pretty domestic to make and eat breakfast together. It was something most couples did a lot earlier in their relationship. They were apparently quite late but it was just as special. 

“Black like your soul, emo boy?”

“You know it.”

Lance made finger guns at him before he got to work. “You want coffee, papa?” he asked a little louder as he cracked some eggs into a bowl. 

“I won’t say no to a cup if you have one,” came the reply from the living room and Lance snorted. “I don’t, I was just wondering.”

“You’re such a lovely child, mijo.”

“I know, I’m a delight.”

“Of course.”

Keith couldn’t help smiling from where he was seated at a small table, the wooden surface littered with indents and even little drawings that had been carved in there with a knife. Children had funny ideas sometimes and trying to stop them would mostly be futile. 

This conversation between Lance and his dad reminded him a lot of the conversations he had with Shiro. He probably had to shoot him a message later to make sure his brother wouldn’t strange him through the phone the next time he picked it up. He didn’t have it on him right now and had absolutely no intention to go get it. Not because he was lazy - it was only part of the reason - but because he wanted to stare at his lover without distractions.

Lance had turned on a small radio that sat on the windowsill and hummed along, sometimes singing a few lines quietly. It was a Spanish song and Keith had never heard it before but he didn’t mind it in the least. He had heard Lance belting out Gimme Gimme Gimme and Dancing Queen before like it was no one’s business and that had been enough to convince him that his boyfriend was a good singer. Even if he wasn’t he wouldn’t have a problem with Lance singing. Keith was sure that if he played his cards right the other wouldn’t hesitate to serenade him but that was a task for another time.

The coffee didn’t take long and Lance poured three cups, two of them black and one with some milk. He placed one of the cups in front of Keith with a cheerful ‘here you go’ before taking the other black coffee to his dad in the living room. Once he was back he poured the eggs into a pan before he got started on cutting up several fruits. After getting an affirmative hum from his boyfriend he also popped two slices of toast into the toaster that looked a little more than ancient and had a silly face drawn onto it with black marker. Keith wasn’t sure it was a new addition because of Sonia and Anton or if it was a relict from his boyfriend’s own childhood. It certainly looked old enough.

Lance wasn’t an amazing cook but he could handle simple things. His mama made everyone help in the kitchen so he had picked up a few things along the way. His scrambled eggs were pretty good in his opinion and his fruit cutting skills were solid. He also never burnt toast like Rachel was prone to doing so he was confident in saying he could prepare a simple meal for him and his lover. At least they wouldn’t starve. No one did, there was always food somewhere in this household.

“Alright,” Lance said as he divided the eggs onto two plates and put a slice of toast on each of them. The bowl of fruit was also put on the table as well as some butter and jam. He then dug around the fridge for a while before he found a specific container and pulled it out with a happy grunt. “You gotta try this. Lisa has a thing for Pinterest and she always gets these funny food ideas from there.” He opened the lid and showed something that looked like muffins but-

“Is that… are those oatmeal muffins?” Keith asked with big eyes and Lance grinned, nodding his head and sitting down. “They sure are and they’re really good.”

“She won’t be upset if we eat them?” Keith asked because he knew for sure Shiro would whoop his ass if he ate his precious snacks. They were always at war because there were some things they both liked and if the other ate it without permission - not that permission was given easily - there would be some serious - not really - bickering. Keith had learned to hide his own stash of snacks or make sure Shiro wouldn’t find it.

“Nah,” Lance waved his hand dismissively. “Everything in the kitchen is for everyone. If you don’t want anyone to eat something you gotta hide it or label it and even then it’s not safe. That just comes with having a big family so if you’re hungry feel free to eat everything that you can find.”

This was a very much new concept to Keith but he nodded his head in acceptance. Free food for all was always good, he wouldn’t say no to that. Even if it would take him a bit to actually dare to eat something without asking.

The sun had crawled up a bit further in the sky, the previous soft glow already gone and Keith wondered how a proper sunrise might look like. Watching the sunrise or sunset at the beach with his boyfriend sounded incredibly cheesy and stupidly romantic but he really wanted to do it. He wanted to do all the cheesy things while they had the time to actually do them together and he knew Lance liked these cheesy things just as much as he did. And what better place to watch a sunset than a beautiful beach they had all to themselves?

The oatmeal muffins were great and Keith really hoped Lisa would make more of them at some point since he was afraid that he might burn down the house if he attempted to do it on his own. Even with a recipe he wasn’t very good in the kitchen except for some traditional dishes he had done a thousand times. Tokyo was a big city with lots of food options so you could survive without actually using the kitchen for much. And cooking rice was something Keith had mastered over the years. If everything went to shit he’d live off of rice and seaweed.

Lance told him a bit about their little farm and what everyone was doing, how their morning routine usually went about and what they could do for the day. 

“Like,” he licked his lips after drinking up the last bit of his coffee. “I really want to show you around and do so much crazy stuff with you but I know how much those flights take out of you so I’m gonna wait until your jetlag has worn off and you got some rest.”

Keith appreciate the sentiment. As much he wanted to go exploring he still felt sluggish and like he had been stuffed into a washing machine and hung out to dry afterwards. It might take him another day or two before he was up for stuff on the crazier side. He was sure there was a lot of exploring they could do. Like, the nature kind of exploring, not the giant city shopping spree and tourist attractions you could indulge in in Tokyo. Both had their own charm but he was more than ready to explore nature for once.

“So I thought we could just take it easy, hang out on the beach, maybe swim some or surf if you want to try it. Anton and Sonia will probably wanna play with you so if you’re up for that I’m sure they’d love to have you,” Lance said.

The two kids seemed to really have taken a liking in Keith which he was strangely honored by. Appreciation from kids always made people feel incredibly valid and he had come to realize that he liked making the kids happy. “Sure,” he said with a lazy smile, nursing his second cup of coffee and snacking on the pineapple pieces from the fruit bowl. Whether Lance had put them in there because he knew Keith liked pineapple or just because was a mystery for now but he was still thankful. 

They stayed in the kitchen for a while, Keith sipping on his coffee happily while they listened to the Cuban radio station, the host saying a few things every now and then but it was mostly music. Lance told him about some of the pictures on the fridge and some of the carvings on the table. Some of them were actually his as he admitted sheepishly. Like the five rings Keith identified as the symbol of the Olympics.

They heard movement from the stairs after a while of just talking and Lance put on some water to boil. Not even two minutes later Veronica entered the kitchen in her pajamas for some tea and smiled at the two boys.

“You’re making today a beach day?” she asked once the water was boiling and poured it into a cup with a tea bag already inside. Her hair was in a messy bun and she still looked a bit sleepy. Her glasses were a little too far down her nose and one of her tank top straps was trying to slide down her shoulder in slow motion.

“Every day is a beach day here,” Lance said offhandedly. “But yeah, we were planning on doing just that.”

“Probably a good idea,” the girl muses, stirring her tea slowly before picking up her cup and stealing a piece of fruit from the bowl. “Have fun, boys,” she called before she left the kitchen again.

Lisa also got up a little while later - already dressed properly and ready for the day - and smiled as she realized they had feasted on her muffins. “They are really good,” Keith said when she asked if he had liked them. “Then perhaps I should make them again, everyone really liked them,” she said and nodded to herself. Keith hoped she would do so.

They cleaned up after themselves once they were done and went back upstairs to the Lance’s room to get ready for the day. It wasn’t really much getting ready that needed to be done. Freshening up, taming wild hair and picking clothes that consisted of something light for the top and some shorts for the bottom. Keith didn’t see the point in wearing shoes if he was going to just walk around on the beach and Lance seemed to be a barefoot kinda guy anyway. It still wasn’t too hot outside, a little breezy actually but that would change in probably just two hours once the sun’s heat increased to it’s full force. 

The couple got situated with some towels and Keith would deny napping for a while longer but… he totally did and Lance up looked at him fondly from his phone when he woke up about an hour later. Keith  _ really _ needed to text Shiro.

“You’re really cute when you’re sleeping,” Lance said and Keith scrunched up his nose, trying to will the giddy feeling in his chest away. “Not cute,” he grumbled instead and his lover snickered. 

“Very cute,” he insisted so Keith gave up and just rolled his eyes. Though he had to admit that there was something incredibly nice and relaxing about napping out in the sun on the beach. He probably sounded like a grandpa but the heat just felt so good for his sore muscles and aching bones. Lance agreed and admitted that he had spent days just lazily relaxing in the sun before. Contrary to Keith though he didn’t really have to worry about getting red but was more than happy to help with the application of sunscreen. 

“Veronica and Marco also have lighter skin,” he explained. “They get red too but I have my dad’s tan so I don’t really need to worry about that.”

Keith just hummed and closed his eyes as Lance rubbed sunscreen into his back while also kind of giving him a massage which he was very much enjoying.

The kids joined them at some point but soon ran off to play and build an even better sandcastle. The lovers just watched them, both of them incredibly fond and Keith never knew that he could feel this kind of affection for small human beings after just barely a day of knowing them but watching them play with Lance by his side was… a really nice feeling actually. Especially when his boyfriend decided to run his fingers through Keith’s hair when the latter settled on his stomach. It was impossible for humans to actually purr for real but if he had been able to Keith would have done it. No one was allowed to run their hands through his hair, he’d chop off their hands immediately but Lance… Lance was allowed to do it. Keith didn’t know why but it just felt good. Pretty much all that revolved around Lance felt good which always managed to warm his heart.

“Dude, I swear, you’d be purring if you were a cat,” Lance said with an amused snort, watching his boyfriend melt into a puddle of relaxed Keith-goo.

The latter just hummed in agreement, not even bothering to protest or open his eyes which made Lance snicker. 

He was really glad that they could do this, that they could spend time together as a couple. It still felt a little fresh and foreign to call someone his lover or boyfriend but with Keith it came so easily and he couldn’t wait to use all their time together to make even more out of their relationship,

  
  
  
  


“KEITH!”

“Fuck off.”

“Oh my god,” Rachel said as she went past the two guys with her surfboard. Her hair was pulled back into a somewhat messy bun - Lance liked Keith’s more - and she had a mismatched bikini on. The top was a dark red with a yellow floral pattern and the bottom was a striking turquoise. 

It really wasn’t uncommon to walk around in swimwear so many of the girls’ bikini tops were worn as just normal pieces of clothing, similar to the guys’ swimming trunks. Keith had caught on to this trend pretty quickly and by now he had figured that no one really cared very much about their clothing. He had only been here for a few days but had adapted to these things already. Carmen was the master of cute floral dresses that sometimes ended up in Lisa’s closet while Lance shared a bunch of crop tops with his sisters, his older brothers sometimes wore their father’s clothes and Anton and Sonia shared clothes without a care in the world. They always bickered over that one green top with ‘summer time’ written on it. Lance said they had tried to get another one just to stop them from fighting but sadly they hadn’t been able to find it again. 

Obviously Keith and Lance were also sharing clothes. Lance had started the trend by pulling a red tank top from his lover’s suitcase and putting it on while the other had been in the bathroom. Once Keith had realized what was going on he had become… a little flustered. Lance had just grinned at him innocently, kissing his cheek and then pulling him out of his room like it was completely normal to steal clothes. Maybe it was since they were boyfriends… Keith wasn’t used to this yet. Shiro was too big to fit into his clothes and he never really had the urge to wear his brother’s clothing except maybe stealing his jacket when he couldn’t find his own. Intentionally wearing someone else’s clothes was unfamiliar to him but he was slowly warming up to the concept. He and Lance were at least roughly the same size.

It was always hot in Cuba and you really didn’t need any fancy clothes for the beach. The one timed Keith had paid a bit more attention to his outfit was when they had visited one of the cities close by for sightseeing and dinner. He was ashamed to admit it but he really couldn’t remember the names of the places and cities here. Spanish was too foreign to him but it always sounded amazing when Lance told him where they were going with that native effortlessness, those beautifully rolled r’s and just… Keith liked his boyfriend’s voice, okay? Spanish was a nice language and it sounded even better when Lance spoke it. Call him biased but he didn’t care.

He was very much aware that Lance also liked it when he spoke Japanese or Korean though now that they were outside of Korean he tended to speak Japanese since that felt more like his mother tongue. Originally it had obviously been Korean but after living in Japan for so long it had changed. Learning the language had been a pain in the ass but now it came to him naturally. Very few could point out the slight accent in some of his words. 

“Come on, I wanna swim or surf, you’re so lazy,” Lance whined and threw some more scoops of sand on his lover’s legs who was resting on his stomach and trying to sleep. Keith was very much comfortable in his spot and had no intention of getting up. Naptime sounded just about perfect right now. 

“Don’t complain, you kept me up last night.”

“Oh, I wish I hadn’t heard that,” Luis sighed as he walked past them as well. He too carried a surfboard.

“NOT LIKE THAT!” Lance screeched and his brother laughed loudly, dodging the handful of sand. He had the same kind of laugh that Shiro had, the kind you would probably describe to someone as a dad-laugh. Perhaps it was something you just developed once you had children. Though it would mean Shiro had a child which… okay, yeah, he kinda looked after Keith but Keith was an Adult and was very capable of looking after himself. 

“There is nothing to be embarrassed about,” Luis called back from where he was approaching the water. “Actually, a healthy se-”

“SHUT UP!” Lance wailed and buried his face in his hands before slapping the back of Keith’s knee like the ‘misunderstanding’ was his fault.

“Ow,” the other grumbled but was currently too lazy to move.

“Kinky!” Veronica called and Lance jumped onto his ridiculously long legs to chase her to the water. She shrieked but couldn’t help roaring with laughter, quickly escaping her younger brother on her own board and joining her siblings who were already waiting for some nice waves.

Lance was muttering under his breath as he plopped down next to Keith again. “This is your fault!” he hissed and Keith peeked one eye open lazily to look at the younger. 

“You wanted to watch all three Iron Man movies, I just kept you company.”

“You said you wanted to watch them too!”

“I have no recollection of that happening whatsoever,” Keith muttered with a small smile.

Lance growled and crawled onto his lover’s back, plopping down without a care which made Keith grunt underneath him. “You’re heavy,” he grumbled, which Lance ignored pointedly. He started squeezing and massaging the other’s back somewhat roughly like a cat that was kneading a pillow but it felt really nice so Keith didn’t complain. Lance was probably pouting while sitting on his back and it was always such a cute look, the thought alone made Keith smile. 

“I hate you, you know that?” Lance hissed and Keith hummed. “Hate you too, momo-chan.”

The kneading of his back stopped. Such a shame.

“Momo-chan?” Lance asked, sounding a little confused about the word and the Keith bit his lip. He had hoped his lover would just ignore the unfamiliar term but obviously he did not have that kind of luck. Lance was way too observant to miss these things. Keith wondered if he had been good at these ‘find the differences’ pictures as a child. 

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s cute.”

Lance was probably crooking his head and the thought alone made Keith smile even wider. Why was his boyfriend so cute? Why did he know he was being his cute ass self without even looking? Why did he love it so much? He didn’t even need to see him to know that he was being cute.

“What’s it supposed to mean? Where did you get that from?” the younger asked, picking up massaging again. This time a little gentler.

“Momo is ‘peach’ in Japanese,” Keith explained, huffing out a breath as his lover kneaded a particularly sore spot close to his neck. Denying a curious Lance of information was like saying no to a child. It should be avoided. Except you told him straight and forward to stop asking. “And ‘chan’ is just… I don’t know how to explain this.” Keith thought for a moment. “You have different suffixes for names in Japanese and ‘chan’ is like… the cutesy one?” He felt stupid saying this. Explaining languages was hard but something they had to do rather often. “You only use it with kids or really close friends or… you know, lovers and stuff and since Japanese doesn’t really have any petnames you have to make up your own.” 

Explaining this was kind of embarrassing. Keith had never needed any terms of endearment but Lance loved them so he had to step up his game a little. Besides, it was kinda fun to come up with cute words to call the other. 

“So… you basically called me a cute peach?” Lance asked and - dear god did he just giggle? Keith was going to melt and this time not only because of the sun. “Aww, that’s sweet of you, Keith-chan.” He said it with a little hint of hesitation, not completely sure if he had used it correctly. 

And no, Keith’s ears did not turn red and Lance did not laugh in victory on his back. It had been an experiment and it had been a great success. Lance really needed to remember this.

“But seriously now, I really wanna do something so get up please,” he whined and wiggled around which caused Keith to grunt again, no longer flustered. He moved a little and then sat up on all fours, Lance yelping and trying to hold on but when Keith continued to move he fell down from his back and had to roll over in the sand.

“Not cool,” he complained with a glare and a little pout but Keith didn’t mind him. He just stood up and shook out his legs to get rid of the loose sand on them. “You know what,” he said. “I’ll get in the water if you can do a handstand and walk ten steps.”

Lance gaped at him. “What? Dude, I’m a figure skater, not an acrobat! You do that first.”

Keith shrugged and got into position, putting his arms down and swinging his legs up into a handstand in a quick motion. He took a second or two to stabilize himself, not as good as he once was, before he started walking. The soft sand made it a little difficult but he could manage. There were just some things you didn’t completely forget about, just like riding a bicycle. Your body would remember it even if it had been years and it was the same for him with things he had learned during martial arts.

He wasn’t sure how far he had walked before he straightened up again but it was a good distance away from a gaping Lance. He needed a while to compose himself before he shook his head in bewilderment. “Keith, my dude, my honey bear… what the fuck?”

Keith just grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Martial arts, remember? It’s boring to always work out in the same way. You gotta spice it up sometimes.”

Lance stared at him, obviously not convinced. Keith had told him about doing martial arts as a child. His parents had been happy to let him work out his frustration on other willing people or practise dummies instead of any fragile pieces of decor. “Please don’t tell me you can do a salto and that shit.”

“I dunno if I can still do it,” Keith shrugged but turned around to try while Lance shrieked behind him, yelling at him to stop but Keith had already run off, tumbling once and then ending it with a salto. The landing was horribly wobbly but… he could still do it.

“KEITH!” Lance shrieked and the latter grinned at him innocently. “I can still do it.”

“You useless face wipe, what the fuck, don’t do that! If you break your neck I’m gonna kill you!” Lance shrieked and jumped on him to slap his chest. “Then Shiro is gonna come over here and kill us both! Twice!” 

Keith just laughed and stepped back to escape his boyfriend’s punches. “Relax, it’s fine. I used to do this all the time.”

“Well, you’re old now, what if you twist your back, huh? What if your spine just says ‘Hasta la later loser’ and you end up as a spineless snake?” Lance continued to argue, gesturing wildly. A worried Lance was both incredibly cute and a little violent. Which was also kinda cute. Keith couldn’t help finding it endearing.

“It’s not any more dangerous than skating to be honest.”

“Then stop skating!”

“Yeah, right,” Keith huffed, amusement playing in his voice. “So what about that handstand?”

Lance looked at him like he tried to solve a puzzle. “If I try to do that I’m really gonna break my neck,” he said and shook his head. “But I can do pretty cartwheels. Look!” He did one and grinned proudly afterwards. Keith had to admit that it had been a good one. Maybe simply because he liked staring at his lover’s long legs and having them thrown up into the air like that made it rather hard not to stare.

“Do I have to do ten now to convince you to get into the water?” Lance asked, already doing another cartwheel before looking back at his boyfriend. They probably looked like complete idiots from where Lance’s siblings were in the water. “Pretty please?” Lance jutted out his lower lip and batted his eyelashes like they were in a cheesy romcom movie. Keith would like to scoff and call him ridiculous but the problem was that it worked and Lance knew it. You could see Keith’s resolve crumbling and he had to admit a swim would probably feel quite nice right now after baking in the sun for so long. His skin would surely never forgive him all the strain he put it through here.

“Fine,” he grumbled, trying hard not to smile as he watched a grin spreading across his lover’s face. Lance was quick to grab his wrist and pulled him into the ocean without qualms, wading into the clear water until it was up to their waist and he pushed off the ground to dive a few meters. 

Keith had never understood people’s obsession with diving but he had never been in an ocean before so now he kinda got it. It was breathtaking to see fish just swimming around casually, to see sea stars and corals and all that. It was hard to wrap his head around the fact that those things actually existed and he was looking at them in real life, not through a screen or anything. Not only were they living things but they were right in front of him. There was no muddy water or plastic swimming around, disguised as deformed jelly fish. The water was perfectly clear and you could actually see the things around you. 

There was also a vast variety of shells he and Lance had managed to bring up to the surface. It was fun to compare them and while holding his breath had been a struggle at first Keith was adjusting rather quickly and could now spend some time under the water. Not as long as Marco though who must be either half-fish or an alien. The time he spent underwater was pure inhuman. 

Lance and Keith played around for a while before they just floated in the gentle waves and looked up at the bright blue sky. Maybe they were holding hands like a pair of otters in order not to drift apart but no one had any evidence for that.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *double update part 1*

The video started, showing Lance and Keith sitting next to each other. The Cuban was grinning wildly while Keith looked ready for this to be over. 

“Hello everyone,” Lance chirped happily and Keith’s soul left his body.

How long would this take? Why was he doing this?  _ Why _ ?

“Do we really have to do this?” he complained, shifting a little on the pillow he was sitting on in front of the couch in the younger’s room.

“Yes,” Lance just said without looking at him. “As most of you have probably noticed from my Twitter I’m having a guest over,” he called and gestured towards his boyfriend who looked very much not impressed. “It’s the man, the Keith, Mr. Alien-Spinach, the silver medalist of the Olympic games, the legend himself, ma boyfriend.” Lance’s proud grin made even Keith smile. 

How could he not when his lover was talking about him in such a manner? Hearing Lance introduce him like that always managed to make him feel all fuzzy and happy.

“Do you even know how many replies I got after that first pic I posted?” Lance asked and turned to Keith who quickly wiped that smile off of his face. “No,” he said completely serious. “I don’t follow you.”

The look of horror on Lance’s face was gold. 

“WHAT?! KEITH!”

“I don’t have Twitter.”

“... right…” Lance cleared his throat and sent the camera a somewhat shy smile, probably feeling a little embarrassed but then an idea popped up in his head and he turned to his boyfriend again. He really didn’t expect anything good to come out of this.

“Keith, you gotta have a Twitter in this time and age. Do you live under a rock? What are you doing with your life?”

“Using it to date you.”

“...”

The stared at each other, Keith smiling innocently. 

“Anyway!” Lance said hurriedly, his voice a little higher pitched than usual. “You gotta have Twitter. I know I’ll probably have to manage it because you don’t do shit with your phone. Does that thing even have a camera for taking pics?”

“Yeah, a one megapixel one.”

“That’s like taking a picture with a potato! Look at this! What is this?” He had fished out Keith’s phone, showing it to the camera. It was still the same old flip phone with a charm on it. Lance sighed and shook his head. “Okay, anyway. Maybe I’ll make a Keith fan account for all the thirsty people out there, me included, but until then just ravel in my magnificent pics of him.”

Keith didn’t understand why he needed Twitter but apparently it was  _ a thing _ since pretty much everyone had an account there. Heck, even Shiro had one! Shiro was like a dad but somehow he had evolved into someone who understood what was ‘trendy’ even when he used to sign every text with - Shiro. Even Keith knew that you didn’t do that.

Maybe he should think about making a Twitter account for himself… he’d just have to think of a username and password…

No, that would just be too much of a hassle.

No Twitter for him.

“For those who don’t know I posted the first pic of us uhh…” Lance took out his phone and took a look at his account. “Four days ago and people have been spamming me ever since so I decided to make a little video. Y’all are very invested in our relationship,” he said with a laugh and put his phone away again.

“To answer some questions first; yes, we are still together and yes, Keith is in Cuba right now. He’s staying with me for a while because we haven’t seen each other for months so a little time together was more than overdue.”

Keith nodded his head beside him, listening with his arms crossed in front of his chest while Lance snuggled into his side.

“As you can probably see from the title,” Lance said and clapped his hands as he sat up straight again, “we’re doing one of those Boyfriend Challenges that I’ve been wanting to do but I couldn’t since I had been missing a boyfriend so now that I have one,” he looped an arm around Keith’s shoulders and pulled him into his side, “I can finally do them.”

“So that’s why I’m here?” Keith asked but Lance ignored him. “I don’t know if this is an official challenge or whatever but basically we’re gonna do each other’s make up and talk a little bit. Right, cariño?”

“More like, I’m gonna mess up big time and you’re going to paint on my face. I still don’t think this is a good idea. I don’t have a PhD in make-up science.”

“You’re gonna do fine,” Lance said, not sounding worried at all. “Should we start with your face so you have at least an idea about what you’re doing?”

“It’s hopeless but I guess…”

“Brilliant,” Lance chirped cheerfully and moved some things on the small coffee table the camera was also set up on. “So, I have a bunch of things here but since I’m a lot darker than Keith I had to steal my sister’s foundation. Sorry not sorry.” He winked at the camera before he turned towards his boyfriend. “Why are you so pale anyway?”

“I don’t know, Lance. Genetics and ethnicity are a thing. Ask my melanin or give me some of yours,” Keith deadpanned.

“Bitch, you ain’t gettin’ any of mine. I worked hard for this tan, you know? Look at those legs!” He raised one up to show the camera, his evenly tanned skin on full display since he was only wearing shorts.

Keith stared into the camera as if to say ‘this is what I have to deal with’.

“Seriously though,” Lance said and moved his boyfriend slightly so he could have a proper look at his face. “This fella just turns red. He isn’t tanning at all. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. What do I do with him? He’s hopeless. Does anyone have a guide on how to tan your boyfriend?”

“Are we here to slander me?” Keith grumbled, scrunching up his nose as Lance put a hairband on him to push his hair back. The Cuban looked at the screen of the camera to see how it looked there and grinned. “That’s cute,” he said, moving it a little so it sat properly centered on his lover’s head, the bow on top matching the unimpressed look on Keith’s face perfectly. “You look good with your hair pushed back.”

“Thanks… what’s that?” Keith eyed the pink tube in the other’s hands warily. 

“Primer. Makes your skin nice.”

“Ah…” Props to Keith for not resisting as Lance slapped it onto his face and smushed his cheeks probably more than necessary when he spread it all over. It was better not to comment too much on it because Lance would do whatever the heck Lance wanted to do no matter what anyone said anyway.

Except maybe his mom…

Everyone was scared of an angry Carmen.

Keith had only been here for a little while but even he already knew that Mama McClain held the reins over everyone in this household. She might be the shortest out of them, with the exception of the kids obviously, but boy did she make up for that with her fire.

“And that?”

“Foundation.” Lance had put some onto the back of his hand and scooped it up with his beauty blender once the primer had been absorbed properly. Keith blinked a few times as the product was applied to his face, trying to look at what Lance was doing but his boyfriend grunted at him to stay still so he remained put and just waited, occasionally closing one eye when that colorful little sponge got too close.

“N’ what’s it for?” he asked, trying to rub at his eye once the sponge moved elsewhere but Lance slapped his hand away.

“To even out your skin. Kinda… like a base color so everything else you’re applying is more visible and to hide redness and all that stuff. You see-” Lance turned to the camera to talk to the viewers and turned the other’s face slightly so everyone could see it properly. “Keith here has pretty good skin. I have no idea how because he doesn’t do anything for it except chugging water. It’s unfair and I’m still salty about that.” 

“It’s magic,” Keith said.

“It’s probably just your gay.”

“Or that.”

Lance turned back to his lover to blend some more foundation into his neck. The color was an okay match, not perfect though, so he made sure there were no visible lines. 

A bit of concealer helped to make sure it looked more natural.

“Okay,” he put the foundation, concealer and beauty blender away. “Next we’re gonna bake.”

Keith stared at him like he had grown two additional heads. 

Not just one.

Two.

“What?” he asked, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. “Baking? Like shoving your face in the oven?”

Lance almost choked on his laugh. “No! Baking as in slapping powder on your face so the foundation stays in place.” He grabbed the powder he was talking about and showed it to the other who looked at it rather skeptically. 

“Wh-... you know what, I’m not even gonna ask.”

It was probably better that way.

The science side of makeup was just too confusing to even try to understand it.

Even Lance had given up on understanding what he was doing. He just kept doing it if it looked good and worked.

He put some powder on the other’s face and while it was clear that Keith was not a fan of it he didn’t really complain. 

What a loving boyfriend!

“Is it supposed to go up my nose?”

“Well, it’s powder so it kinda gets everywhere,” Lance said with a shrug. “Since Keith here is lighter than me I dunno how well I can actually contour his face but um… we’ll just try.”

“Does that brush have a mermaid tail?”

“It sure does.”

“That’s… kinda cool.”

Lance grinned. His mermaid tail brush always managed to score. It was awesome.

“Why are you using this brush now?” Keith asked, eyeing the current brush and all the other ones on the table. He doubted they were paint brushes because they looked way too fancy for that. 

Apparently extra makeup brushes were a thing?

You never stop learning.

“There are different brushes for different things,” Lance explained, eyebrows furrowed as he worked on slowly building up a subtle contour under Keith’s cheekbone and jaw. “You can basically use them however you want but this is a contour brush. It’s a little angled so it’s easier to make the right shapes.”

“Why not use that sponge thingy? The squish… thing.”

“The squish,” Lance echoed quietly and snickered before he answered. “It’s better for applying more liquidy stuff like foundation or concealer, not really for powders.”

“... okay…”

Lance smiled at him. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll help you.”

Keith didn’t look convinced.

The Cuban took in his boyfriend’s face and nodded to himself, happy with the contour he had worked on. He grabbed the eyeshadow palette that he used pretty much always and presented it to Keith. “Alright, cariño, what colors do you like? Please select everything except for blue because I’m not nearly skilled enough to make blue eyeshadow work properly on someone else.”

With those words in mind the Korean took a closer look at the displayed colors, some of them more used than others since Lance has had this palette for a while and used it frequently. “These look nice,” he said and pointed towards a square of brown shades at the bottom after a while of considering.

Lance turned the palette to look at them and hummed in approval. “Yeah, I can work with those. Okay, eyes closed please~”

Keith did as told while Lance worked on his eye makeup. “I’ll just do a more natural look. Or I’ll try to, y’all know I tend to go a little overboard sometimes but it won’t be too crazy since those colors are somewhat natural.”

“I can’t see what you’re doing… how am I supposed to copy that?” Keith asked after a while of Lance brushing stuff onto his lids. The feeling was kinda nice actually, a little ticklish sometimes but otherwise nice. 

“Just do whatever you think feels right.”

“Then you’re just asking for a disaster.”

“It’s not that difficult, I promise. You can do something easy. What I like doing is taking a light base color for the lid and crease - that here,” Lance poked Keith crease with the rounded end on his brush handle, “ and then I go darker for the outer edge here and make a transition into the crease for more depth.”

“That…” Keith tried to find the right words. “Sounds pretty complicated.”

“It’s really not. You’re just putting color on a surface.”

“On your face.”

“My face is perfect, you won’t ruin it.”

Keith opened his eyes to give his stupidly grinning boyfriend a deadpan look before rolling and then closing them again so the other could continue.

“We’re also gonna use these shimmery tones here.”

The older peeked one eye open but Lance was turned towards the camera so he couldn’t see much and closed his eye again as the other turned towards him in order not to be scolded.

The next minute or so was spent in silence while Lance perfected his masterpiece on his boyfriend’s eyelids and was rather pleased with the result. He rarely did makeup on other people so he wasn’t that good at playing makeup artist but for some simple looks it worked. 

Keith also had different eyelids from his own so that was a whole nother challenge but he had made do somehow.

“Next is eyeliner so please don’t move or you’re going to ruin everything,” he said sternly and Keith just raised one eyebrow, eyes still closed so it looked a little funny. “Okay…”

“We’re going for a subtle wing. A small one,” Lance said towards the viewers as he drew the first line. “Hold still.”

“I am,” Keith grumbled, not knowing how he could stay more any more still. “That feels weird.”

“It’s just eyeliner. It’ll dry and you won’t notice it.”

“Hm.”

Lance needed a lot longer than usual to get the wings done and fanned his boyfriend’s face a little to help it dry down faster. Keith blinked his eyes open after a while and Lance hummed in a satisfied manner. “That looks really good on you.”

Keith crooked his head and reached for the mirror but the younger pushed his hand away. “Ahah, we’re not done yet, no peeking until then,” he reminded and put the eyeliner away. The other sighed but complied and let him continue. 

“Alright. Contour done, eyes done… oh, wait, no…. mascara.” He reached for it on the table and pulled the wand out of the small bottle which made Keith eye it warily like it was a weapon or an ancient torture device. “Where does that shit go?” he asked as Lance leaned it.

“Your eyelashes. Please don’t blink or move or you’ll have black everywhere.”

Keith spluttered as that thing moved incredibly close to his eyeball, his eyelids fluttering slightly but Lance still managed to apply it somehow. He had no idea how he was able to do that and he feared having to do it on the other himself. It was probably better to just ask the Cuban to do this step himself because he really didn’t want to poke his boyfriend’s eyeball out with a weirdly shaped stick covered in black goo.

“Perfect,” Lance chirped and put the bottle away. “Your brows are okay so we’ll just shape them a little and that’s it.”

Keith wasn’t really sure how eyebrow shaping worked but he let Lance do whatever he deemed necessary. He had no idea about any of this after all so it was better to let a professional do the work.

Also the reason why it was a bad idea of Lance to let his boyfriend attempt to do his makeup but he seemed to love the idea and Keith had been pretty easy to convince so here they were. 

Not that Keith could say no if Lance asked him to do something like this with those adorable puppy eyes. It was harmless and the other liked doing it so...why not?

If it made him happy the Korean wouldn’t be against it.

Lance swiped the baking powder off of Keith’s face with a big fluffy brush before taking some pinkish powder and putting it on yet another brush before brushing it onto Keith’s cheeks carefully. 

“Is that… what’s it called? Blush?” the older asked unsurely, wondering what he might look like right now. He was kinda afraid to find out but then again he trusted Lance’s skills and judgement so it surely wouldn’t be too bad, right?

His lover hummed in confirmation, putting the blush away and grabbing yet another, nude colored powder.

“That’s to set everything so it won’t smudge too badly,” he explained as he applied it all over Keith’s face before grabbing  _ another _ powder and a smaller brush. “And this, Keith, is highlighter.” He showed his boyfriend the sparkly, shimmer powder proudly.

“Highlighter,” Keith echoed like a parrot. “Okay?”

“It makes your face glow.”

“...”

“You’ll learn to appreciate it very soon, trust me.”

“That’s always a bad idea.”

“You’re still at my mercy so watch your words.”

The product was applied to Keith’s cheekbones and the tip of his nose for whatever reason he was unable to come up with. While he was wondering about that something was applied to his lips and it had a very strange texture in his opinion but it was probably supposed to be like that. He didn’t worry about it too much.

Lance looked at the finished result and smiled another one of his brilliant smiles that the Korean just couldn’t get enough of. “Done?” he asked and Lance nodded, putting all brushes and products away before picking up the mirror and handing it to his boyfriend whose eyes widened. 

“Holy shit,” Keith said and turned his face, furrowing his eyebrows as if to make sure it really was his face that was staring back at him and yes, it was him but he looked… so different.

It was still him but somehow he saw things he had never noticed about his face before and his eyes were so damn defined. He hadn’t known his lashes could look like that and the eyeliner made them appear even bigger. 

Or was it the eyeshadow?

He had no idea, he just knew that he was amazed by his own face. 

“Good?” Lance asked and appeared beside him, looking over his boyfriend’s shoulder to see his reflection as well. 

“I…” Keith didn’t really know what to say. “I mean, I have no clue about any of this but… it looks really good. I mean, it’s strange to see this one me, my face looks really different like this but I don’t think it’s bad or anything.”

“Just not used to it.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, as long as you don’t hate it I’m happy.”

Keith could see his lover’s smile through the mirror and turned his head to give him a kiss. “You put effort into it, I wouldn’t hate it,” he said and Lance awed. “Thank you, cariño,” he said softly and pecked the elder’s lips in return as well. “Shall we switch then?”

“I can try.”

“You’ll do just fine.”

They rearranged themselves so they were facing each other, having switched positions to make it easier for the viewers to see what exactly was going on.

“So...um…” Keith looked at the displayed products while Lance just smiled at him and took off the hair band that was still keeping his lover’s bangs back. He snickered as they stuck up in random directions and smoothed them down a little so they wouldn’t be too wild.

He might not have completely tamed them because he simply liked Keith with messy hair. It was such a good look, okay? He knew some people thought guys with long hair weren’t the best thing out there but Lance would like to wholeheartedly disagree.

Yeah, sure, a mullet was not the most stylish or modern hairstyle but Keith’s was an exception. It was actually probably already longer than just a simple mullet and the way he almost always tied it up into a ponytail made Lance go weak in the knees. 

“What do I start with? This?” Keith asked and picked up a bottle of foundation.

“Do primer first,” Lance switched the bottle for his primer and Keith took a moment to read what was written on the back. 

“For a matt finish, long lasting and moisturizing,” he recited, not really knowing what to do with that information so he shrugged and carefully squeezed some onto his finger.

Lance had situated himself so he was sitting in front of Keith to make it a bit easier for him and so that the camera could still capture the side of his face, waiting patiently and watching curiously what his lover was doing. He smiled as the older turned to him and held still as he applied some dots of primer on his face. One on his forehead, one on each cheek and one on the tip of his nose. Lance turned towards the camera and Keith snorted.

“You look amazing,” he said, making the younger look at him again and starting to spread the primer somewhat evenly. It was a bit too much but Lance wasn’t about to nitpick ever little detail. 

“And your skin is so soft…” Keith sounded amazed and Lance laughed.

“That’s because I do stuff for that, not like you dry-ass cracker.”

“Next!” Keith said without acknowledging that comment and reached across the table for the foundation. “This one… this… foundation in the same color that you’re not supposed to see but is supposed to cover everything… right?”

“Well… that’s one way to put it I guess.”

“Alright uh…” The Korean looked a bit unsure about how to proceed so Lance decided to help a little. “You can put it on the back of your hand first and then go from there. Don’t put too much though or it’s gonna run everywhere.”

“Okay… like this?” He put a blob of his hand and Lance hummed. Keith then grabbed the beauty blender - the squish - because that was an easy one to remember and dipped it into the foundation before he leaned in and started gently applying it to Lance’s left cheek, furrowing his eyebrows in concentration.

He had probably remembered how Lance had done it and covered it face pretty evenly, even around his eyes and nose before tilting his lover’s chin up and applying some to his neck. He then leaned back and took in his work for a while before nodding.

“Next was…” he looked at the products on the table a little lost, not sure where to from here. There were too many bottles and powders and pallets and brushes. How did people do this? How did they learn this? Where had Lance learned this?

Did they teach this in school?

“Concealer,” the Cuban said, pointing towards a small bottle and his lover reached for it. There wasn’t anything written on it, no instructions, nothing.

Only bad products came without instructions.

“It’s the same as foundation,” Keith said, sounding a bit confused because the bottle was smaller and there was some sort of applicator as he unscrewed the bottle.

“It’s a shade or two lighter and you use it to cover some spots or dark circles better. Makes your face brighter,” Lance explained.

“But you don’t have spots or dark circles.”

Lance put a hand on his heart and looked at the camera. “Isn’t he sweet?” he asked and wiped an imaginary tear away before turning back to his lover. “So you think I don’t need concealer?”

Keith looked at his face, back at the concealer and then his face again as if to figure something out. He then leaned in without saying a word and put a dot of concealer on the tip of Lance’s nose. A grin sneaked onto his face as he looked at his work proudly. 

The Cuban turned towards the camera, not knowing what to think of this new concealer technique. 

Keith was about to blend it out with his finger but the younger pointed at the beauty blender so he used that and nodded once he was done. “How does that baking thing work?” he asked as he looked for the right powder and found it because it was the only white one. He could remember that much.

“You put the powder in places where the foundation moves a lot or where your skin produces more oil so keep it from getting messed up,” Lance explained. “Like around the nose or under the eyes.

It was a bit of a mess but after some minutes Keith had managed to apply the powder with some pointers from Lance. 

“What did you do next? Contour?”

“Mhm.”

“... okay…”

Lance showed his boyfriend a pic of where you could contour and Keith looked at it like he wanted to memorize it before he started. The first few tries he barely had any powder on his brush because he didn’t know what the right amount was but after the sixth swipe the color seemed to show up.

He leaned back after every brush stroke to take a look at Lance’s face and the younger thought it was cute how hard he tried. He had expect Keith to half-ass this a little since he had no idea what exactly he was doing but he was going slow and took his time in an attempt to make the result look good.

His perfectionist streak was showing.

The other side was a bit of a struggle and all in all it probably took Keith almost seven minutes before he was satisfied. Lance didn’t complain in the least and just talked a bit to his viewers about what they had been up to.

“Yesterday we drove around some to find a beach with good waves and we stopped at one with a group a white dudes and dudettes and I swear watching them was so funny! I think they were tourists from America and it was. So. Funny.”

“Are you always making fun of tourists?” Keith asked, finishing up the contour on his boyfriend’s face.

“Not all of them, just the funny ones. You know how there are tourists who just wanna check out new places and then there are the ones who are just  _ real _ tourists.”

“... yeah I think I know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah and it’s just funny when they talked about us in English like ‘omg look at those locals and is that dude Asian? Wtf!’ and we just listened to them talking until I really couldn’t take it anymore and was like ‘Hey, you know if you actually stand up properly when a wave comes you might even get somewhere with your board’ and that dude was so shocked!” Lance laughed loudly and threw his head back. “It was like he had just seen an alien trying to communicate with him.”

“Maybe because you look like an alien,” Keith murmured, looking at the eyeshadow palette intently and trying to make sense out of it. 

Why were so many colors? Which one were okay together and which one were not supposed to be used together?

Lance had said using three shades was a good way to go but which shades should he chose?

So many questions and so little answers.

“If that were true I’d at least be a handsome alien,” Lance said smugly. “But yeah, tourists are always fun to see. There aren’t that many of them yet but more started coming during the last few years.”

“Can I use this shade?” Keith asked and pointed to one, Lance just shrugging. “You decide,” he said cheekily. “I’m just the gorgeous canvas~” 

“Not very helpful,” the older grumbled but dipped the small brush he had selected into the color before applying it to Lance’s eyelid. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was doing so he just slapped the color on and tried to make a transition to a darker shade in the outer corner.

It didn’t look too bad in his opinion but he chose not to use eyeliner because he didn’t want to ruin the look. Lance also refused to do the mascara himself so he struggled with that but managed somehow.

“What about my brows?” the Cuban asked as Keith removed the baking powder from his face with the same fluffy brush Lance had used before. It was white and pink so pretty easy to remember. 

“They’re fine,” the older said dismissively and grabbed the blush. He was excited about this step and went straight to work. He chose to move the blush a little higher so it wasn’t dead centre on Lance’s cheeks but a bit more outwards and under his eyes. He also swiped the brush over the centre of his nose and smiled proudly. “Shit that’s really cute,” he said and his boyfriend crooked his head a little but didn’t reach for the mirror since they weren’t done yet.

Keith managed to apply the nude powder and then remembered that highlighter was a thing and moved a little closer to apply it. His eyes widened as he saw the suddenly glowy shine and Lance snickered. “Right?” he asked. “It’s magic.”

“That’s so cool,” Keith said in wonder and remember that Lance had given him a glowing nose so he did the same.

The lipgloss was a bit of a struggle but they managed somehow.

“Done?” Lance asked and after receiving a confirming nod he grabbed the mirror from the table to take a look at himself. He moved his face from left to right to see all angles and take everything in.

Keith had done… pretty well actually. The mascara had smudged a tiny little bit and the eyeshadow wasn’t perfectly blended or balanced out but that didn’t really matter.

The blush was pretty cute even if it wasn’t the kind of style Lance would usually go for and the contour was a bit too subtle to really be noticed even after seven minutes of working on it but all in all it looked great.

“You did such a good job,” he said honestly. “This looks really, really good. Especially for your first try, I’m impressed.”

Keith smiled softly as the praise and Lance turned his head so he could kiss his lips. The lip gloss made it almost a little slippery which made Keith scrunch up his nose. Strange feeling.

Lance just laughed softly and turned back to the camera with a brilliant smile. “Alright, everyone, that’s it. I just found out my boyfriend is pretty good at makeup and looks damn good with makeup on so maybe I’ll try to do some more stuff with his face while he’s here.”

Keith just sighed behind him but wasn’t all that opposed to it. He just had to sit still and let the other do his thing after all. It wasn’t that difficult. 

“Since I’m forcing Keith to take a bunch of cute selfies with me you can probably expect some more updates on Twitter in the future so until then bye, bye.” He waved and nudged Keith so he’d so the same.

“Bye bye,” Keith copied him and with that the video ended.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *double update part 2*  
> Sorry it took me a while to update again but not many people are reading this anyway so I guess my small break wasn't really noticed ^^' (sorry for any major typos, I'll try to edit this soon)  
> I might make this a chapter shorter. I had planned to write a bit more for this story but I really can't find the motivation for it...

“I really really really really really like you,” Lance sang, looking at Keith expectantly. The other stared back for a moment before he huffed. “And I want you, to want me, to want me too,” he hummed and Lance grinned in victory. “Yay!” he called cheerfully and clapped his hands. “So you do know some songs.”

Keith huffed a second time. “Yeah, it’s not like I don’t know anything.”

“I dunno, buddy, aliens aren’t the best at keeping up with stuff.”

“You won’t ever let that go, huh?”

Lance grinned mischievously. “Nope, not a chance… but your my alien.” He threw his arms around the older and nuzzled him which Keith would have had a problem with if it weren’t his boyfriend. Since it was his boyfriend he really didn’t mind. Boyfriend-nuzzles were great.

Carmen called something from the kitchen in Spanish first before switching to English and either repeating it or saying something else. “Lance, Keith, could you take this out to papa?”

“Coming~” Lance called sweetly and the two were handed some bowls and plates that they carried outside onto the beach where Cris and Marco had managed to get the fire started. They were just in time to keep the kids from trying to touch the flames  _ again _ . Keith meanwhile did not have any issues about picking them up and settled Sonia on his hip easily. She pouted for about two seconds before her gaze switched to his hair and she brushed her small hands through it.

He hadn’t tied it up at the moment, not yet at least and it seemed she was fascinated by this. “Can I braid your hair?” she asked suddenly which honestly surprised him. “You want to?” he asked and reached back to run a hand through his hair as well. “Isn’t it too short for that?”

“Nuhu,” the little girl said and leaned in so she could inspect the black strands up close. “We can make a french braid, papa showed me how to do it on mama’s hair! I can do that! Like a croissant! Please?”

Her puppy eyes were on the same level as Lance’s so… there was no way Keith could resist. Even though he didn’t know how a braid could resemble a croissant but okay. “Now?” he asked, still a bit surprised but she nodded her head excitedly. “I dunno, chiquita… I’m supposed to help,” he glanced at Lance who had just put down Anton again. “Nah, hair care is more important. Don’t worry about it, we got this, right chiquito?”he asked.

Anton nodded proudly and raced back to the house, yelling something with ‘abuela’ in it so he was obviously talking to or about Carmen. “Have fun,” Lance said before he followed his nephew to make sure he wouldn’t set the house on fire or steal a knife from somewhere  _ again _ . 

Keith could understand his fascination.

He put Sonia down who immediately took his hand and pulled him over to one of the tree logs around the fire that served as benches, thankfully away from the smoke that was currently rising. 

“I don’t have a brush though,” he said as Sonia ushered him to sit down. “I can do it without, it’ll just hurt a little but you’re an adult so that’s okay.”

“That’s weirdly depressing,” Keith murmured and Cris laughed at his comment.

“Oh!” Sonia squealed after getting a closer look at Keith’s hair and he didn’t know why but he was immediately concerned. “Why? What’s wrong?” he asked, not knowing why he was worried. Was a little girl’s opinion about the state of his hair that important? 

Apparently yes.

“Your hair is so… so much! You have even more than me!” Sonia squealed excitedly.

Ah, okay.

“I think it’s just thicker than yours,” Keith said. “Maybe because I’m Asian… we tend to have thicker hair.”

“Oh!” Sonia sounded fascinated. “Can I be Asian? Will I get thicker hair?”

Keith smiled. “I don’t think that’s possible, you’re already Cuban, aren’t you? Besides, we all have boring straight hair. Yours is way prettier.”

Sonia giggled shyly and started arranging his hair. It did hurt a little because there were some knots but Keith wasn’t about to complain. He talked to Cris and Marco while Sonia was busy. Luis was with them for a minute to drop off some more bowls and handed his daughter a hair tie that he had around his wrist so she could tie off Keith’s braid once she came to an end.

“Okay, done!” Sonia called cheerfully and Keith reached back carefully and could feel his hair arranged in some way but he had no idea what it looked like. “You did such a good job,” he said nevertheless, knowing even without having to see it and Sonia grinned proudly. He took her back to the house where Lance was helping Lisa prepare some marshmallows while Anton tried to steal some… rather unsuccessfully at that. His mother had eyes like a hawk.

“Ah, my Asian Rapunzel,” Lance called dramatically upon seeing his lover and Keith scowled. “Never call me that again,” he grumbled while the younger made him turn around and didn’t hesitate to praise his niece. “Wow, Sonia, this might become number one of my list of favorite hairstyles on Keith!”

“What’s the current number one,” Keith asked without hesitation and Lance coughed in a flustered way. “Just… When you tie it up and like… half of it falls out again….?”

Keith smiled lazily. “I see.”

Carmen and Lisa shared a knowing look.

“S-shut up, I’m a weak man, okay?” Lance huffed and shoved at the other’s shoulder. Keith couldn’t help laughing, not stopping even when Carmen pushed a bunch of plates into his hands to carry outside. 

“Babo (idiot),” he said softly and Lance crooked his head. “Babo-who?”

Keith snorted and shook his head, leaving the other to wonder what on earth he had just said. 

“Keith, please tell them to put the corn in already!” Carmen called from the kitchen. “Will do!”

He carried the plates outside and put them on the blanket where the rest of the bowls and food was lined up already. “Carmen said you can put the corn in,” he said as instructed and Marco hummed, searching for the corn cobs wrapped in foil in the vast amount of food. Once he had found them he put them in a spot he had prepared for them so they wouldn’t get burned immediately. 

Keith had never done this before. He often went to places where you could grill your own food together with Shiro but he had never used an open fire like this, much less outside on a beach. 

“Are you more of a vegetable type or meat type, Keith?” Cris asked while setting up the grid over the fire so they could get started properly.

Keith pondered for a moment. “Hm… doesn’t really matter to be honest, I eat both.”

“Oh that’s good,” Cris said cheerfully. “Rachel hates grilled vegetables, Luis eats way too much meat and the kids only want corn, Lance included. Being a well-rounded eater is always better.”

Keith smiled. “I’m actually more of a fish type, meat not that much.”

“Oh really?” Cris sounded surprised by that. “Is fish more common is Japan? Or just a personal preference?”

“I guess it is more common to eat fish… depends on where you live but Shiro and I have always eaten more fish than meat. I figured that’s not really the case here.” He hadn’t seen a single fish dish while he had been here and it seemed like the McClains didn’t eat fish very often either. He was fine with it for now but he knew he’d miss it at some point.

“Hm, no, not really,” Cris said, making sure the grid was adjusted properly before turning towards the food and starting to select what he would grill first. He seemed to settle for a arrangement of different things so everyone could eat something they liked. “One would think being surrounded by the ocean means we eat a lot of fish here but somehow that’s not the case. Interesting thought how those differences exist.”

“Cariño!”

Keith turned towards the house where Lance was standing on the small back veranda, hands on his hips like he was ready to nag. “I need a strong man to carry the marshmallows, chop chop, mi cielo!” he called and Keith huffed. 

“You weak noodle!” he called back and even from where he was standing he could see the offended expression on Lance’s face, followed by an equally offended shriek from him. The distance made the display all the more entertaining. “Listen here, mullet-man, I’m a graceful human being with beautiful legs! Get your flat ass over here, bebé, or I’ll kick you to Mars!”

“Alright, coming,” Keith sighed in a bemused way and was about to turn around when Marco piped up from where he was poking at the wood for the fire. “I would have never thought Lance would call someone ‘bebé’, much less ‘mi cielo’.”

Keith blinked in surprise. “Really? Why?” Now he was intrigued. He had assumed Lance just loved using nicknames for people. He did it with the twins as well and had come up with an endless list of abbreviations for Pidge by now. One would assume it came to him naturally.

Marco shrugged and grinned up at him. “‘Cariño’ is easy to use, everyone uses that but ‘mi cielo’ and ‘bebé’ really put it out there, you know? It’s hard to explain, they’re not nicknames you would use for just anyone.”

Keith took that piece of information in for a moment. He had always assumed it was normal, maybe it was for some people but apparently it wasn’t all that normal for Lance. He… had to admit he kinda liked the thought that it was special.

“You know what they mean?” Marco asked, shaking him out of his thoughts.

“Well,” Keith started and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling somewhat shy to talk about this with his boyfriend’s older brother. He had been quite worried about Marco, him being the one who was usually the hardest on new people in Lance’s life, especially potential lovers.

Keith had been the first one to be deemed ‘okay’ even on the first day so maybe they had been off to a good start. Though he had to admit he had a hard time talking to Marco the first few days. After that it had gotten considerably better, mainly because Marco seemed to realize two things. 

One; Lance was an adult capable of taking care of himself and old enough to know when a relationship was not going the way it should. He didn’t need an older brother watching over him like a hawk. At least not anymore which is probably what got to Marco more.

Two; Keith was apparently an alright dude in his books. He found that out through actually talking to the latter and getting to know him. It had been slightly awkward to be subjected to some very random questions - “Keith, have you ever owned a pet?” … “Well… my parents have always had cats?” “And would you say that you treat them well?” “... I would hope so.” “... I see.” “Marco, what the cheese, are you comparing having me as a boyfriend to taking care of a pet?” “What? Lance, no, I just-” “Oh my god.” - but Marco had opened up to him more and more afterwards.

Lisa and Luis were just so easy to talk to, just like Carmen and Cris. Maybe it was because they were both parents, Keith wasn’t entirely sure but he was glad they had been so open right from the start. Rachel and Veronica might tease him and Lance a lot but there was no ill intent behind their words.

The twins had obviously taken and immediate liking to Keith, just like Lance had predicted. Keith couldn’t deny being incredibly fond of them as well. It had been a surprisingly quick development, maybe because they were kids and just had that effect on people. Everyone seemed to be fond of them and there had been a moment or two where he had just looked at them interacting with all the loving people around them and had wondered if that was something he had wanted as well as a child. If this was the kind of setting he had wanted to grow up in.

It was silly to think about it now, but Lance’s family was just so welcoming and inclusive towards him that he couldn’t help but wonder.

“Whenever I ask he just gives me this stupid look,” Keith admitted, “but the ones he uses a lot I think I know by now. Like, ‘cielo’ means sky? And ‘bebé’ is baby? He sometimes calls me ‘mi alma’? Like, my soul or something?” It was embarrassing. Very embarrassing. Hearing these things in Spanish and knowing what they meant was one thing but saying them out loud in English was just… so cheesy. 

Marco snorted. “Jeez, he’s such a cheeseball.”

They seemed to agree on that.

“I just assumed he was always like that,” Keith wondered out loud. “He’s been calling me those things right from the start.”

“He’s probably just happy that he finally has someone to throw those nicknames at,” Marco said with a laugh. “My little baby brother is growing up, I feel old.”

“Do not speak about age in front of me,” Cris sighed ruefully, poking at some pieces of meat and arranging the vegetables in neat rows to use the maximal amount of space on the grid. It seemed like he had a lot of experience with this kind of thing. “When I think about Lance at the Olympics is get sentimental. He’s so grown up,” he lamented while still arranging the vegetables. “And you too.” He waved his tongs at Keith. “All grown up, adults… I’m so old! My kids are all mature now, getting into serious relationships and handling things like adults and-”

“KEITH! You alien-french-fry, get your ass over here or I’m going to burn all your emo shirts!”

The tree men around the fire looked at each other. 

“I dunno about that mature part, papa,” Marco said with a snort. “Still seems pretty childish to me.”

“Oh he is, no worries,” Keith added.

“KEITH!”

“I better get going.” He turned around and yelled something towards Lance about having the patience of a goat in Japanese. 

“I have no idea what the fuck you just said but thank you!”

“LANCITO!” Carmen shrieked from inside, her voice slightly muffled. You could hide nothing from Mama McClain. Nothing.

“Lo silento, mama!” Lance called, more sheepish than before.

Keith was still laughing when he stepped onto the veranda and Lance shoved a bowl of marshmallows into his arms. “What were you even talking about?” he asked with furrowed eyebrows and Keith snickered. 

“Nothing.”

Lance looked at him suspiciously but decided to drop the topic when Luis went past them with Anton holding onto his neck and Sonia clinging to his hip, using her father’s belt to hold herself up. “Hey Luis, did you finally learn a song on your guitar?” Lance asked curiously and his older brother stopped, his children still clinging to him like little monkeys. It seemed they did that pretty often. Clinging to people.

“No… not really,” he said. “It’s been collecting dust for years. I have the feeling I’m never gonna learn how to play something.”

Lance looked honestly disappointed. “Luis, it’s not a campfire if no one plays the guitar.”

“Papa is lazy,” Sonia piped up.

“He is never practising,” Anton added. “Mama said he’s lazy.”

“I said that,” Sonia protested.

“Mama also said that.”

“Yes, okay, your papa is lazy,” Luis cut in. “Are you and mama talking about me behind my back?”

His children just grinned at him which caused him to sigh. 

“I can play the guitar,” Keith said without really thinking about it and everyone turned to look at him in wonder.

Lance seemed to be especially thrilled about the revelation and clapped his hands in excitement. “That’s great!” he called. “Then you can play something after dinner.”

“I don’t have a guitar,” Keith stated the obvious but his lover just waved his hand. “You can use Luis’, it’s just been sitting around anyway. Right?” He turned to his brother who shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, you can take it if it’s still working properly.”

“Come on, we’ll grab it. It’s in your room?” Lance asked, already pulling Keith towards the stairs. The bowl of marshmallows now in Luis’s hands. “No, it’s in the storeroom,” he called as he made his way towards the campfire with his children still clinging to him. Apparently climbing people was one of their favorite past times.

“Is it really okay to take his guitar?” Keith asked worriedly but his lover brushed him off. “Of course, it’s just been sitting here and collecting dust for forever. I dunno if maybe you gotta tune it or something before you can play though.”

Lance opened the door to a small room stuffed full with all kinds of things. There were old books, old furniture, dolls and toys, lamps and even... a blow up unicorn floatie? Huh… interesting.

“This place is as messy as ever,” Lance sighed, making his way through the oddities before spotting a guitar case. It was a plain one, the usual dark hard case. Plain but useful, usually not too expensive and obviously way better at protecting the actual instrument than just a flimsy cloth case. “Aha, there we go.”

The Cuban lifted it up and joined Keith in the hallway, kicking the door shut behind before placing the case on the ground.

The case was dusty but the guitar inside looked spotless and untouched, just like Luis had said. It was a very simply acoustic guitar, light brown wood and no decorations. It was an usual beginner’s instrument, not much of a surprise since most people bought something plain and affordable when they were just starting out. 

Keith sat down on the ground and lifted the guitar out of the case to place it in his lap. It was a different feeling from his own instruments at home since every single one had it very own feeling to it. He got used to it within seconds though and strummed a few cords, cringing since it was way out of tune.

Even Lance seemed to notice and scrunched up his nose at the unpleasant sounds. “That doesn’t sound right,” he muttered and Keith agreed with a hum. He reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out his phone to open the tuning app he had installed on there. He hadn’t expected to need it here of all places but now he was grateful to have it.

“What’s that?” Lance asked curious and moved around the case to peer over his shoulder at the screen. 

“Tuning app,” Keith said and strummed the first string, tightening it to get to the correct note. “Helps me figure out the notes.”

It took a few minutes to correct all of the strings, the time had taken a toll on the poor instrument, but once they were all set Keith tested it out again and smiled at the nice sound.

“Now that sounds way better,” Lance said with a laugh. “Come on, I bet everyone’s outside by now.” They made their way downstairs, Keith carrying the instrument but putting it on the veranda where it would be safe for now. “And I bet the kids will be very excited about you playing,” Lance added with a grin. “Heck, I’m excited. I didn’t know you could play!”

Keith smiled as they made their way through the grass and sand towards the fire where everyone was seated by now. There was a spot on one of the logs left open for them so they settled down there. “You never asked.”

“Because I didn’t expect it,” Lance said like it was obvious. “Dude, you’re already an awesome figure skater but you also know martial arts and know you know how to play the guitar? Are you an undercover CSI agent as well?”

“Yeah and do you know what my mission is?”

“What? Hailing yout alien home planet and planning an invasion?” Lance snorted in amusement. “Overthrowing the government and taking over the world?”

“No,” Keith said and leaned in until their forehead were almost touching. “It was making you fall in love with me so I can kiss you every day.” He leaned in for a kiss but Lance shoved his shoulder which made him topple over backwards with a yelp. “Lance!” he protested when he got up again but had to grin wolfishly when he saw his lover desperately trying to hide his blush by looking away and burying his face in his hands. 

“Smooth,” Luis teased before taking a sip from his lemonade and everyone snickered which made Lance turn his back towards his family. Keith climbed back into his spot next to him and leaned against his back. “But now you found out,” he crooned. “I guess that means no more kisses?”

Lance turned his head to give him one quick kiss before turning back around again, still trying to will his blush away. 

“Is Keith a spy?” Anton asked with big eyes and the adults all laughed at his innocent question. He didn’t quite get why it was so funny and just waited for an answer. 

“No, I’m sorry,” Keith said between laughs. “There isn’t any cool reason other that I have Japanese parents. If you cannot play at least one instrument, do well in school and excel in one kind of sport you have failed as a Japanese citizen and as a human being.”

“Sounds like fun,” Rachel said sarcastically and Keith hummed in agreement. “Best time of my life.”

“Ahwee, no, I’m the best time of your life,” Lance said and was quick to turn around again so he could hug his boyfriend like an octopus. 

“Lance, there are children present,” Carmen said seriously and her own children, husband and even Keith burst into laughs. 

“MAMA!” her youngest son shrieked in an apalled manner. “Not like that! What are you all thinking?!”

The twins didn’t understand what was so funny, again.

“I mean, you two are young and healthy adults. I’m sure you know what you are getting yourselves into but I do have to say that-”

“MAMA!” Lance shrieked again while waving his hands around frantically. Maybe Keith should have been embarrassed about his boyfriend’s mother wanting to discuss their sex life during a campfire with the whole family present but he could only laugh at the absurdity of the situation. He couldn’t stop which made Lance shove him over again. He ended up on his back in the sand, still laughing. 

“Lance, not in front of the kids,” Lisa gasped, moving to shield her children’s eyes who really didn’t get what was going on.

“Kinky,” Veronica commented with a smirk and Lance looked about ready to bolt. 

“Stop laughing, Keith!” he shrieked, glaring at his boyfriend. When he didn’t stop he attacked him with tickles. 

“No, Lance, not outside the bedroom!” Keith managed to say between laughs and Lance punched his shoulder a few times before plopping down on the log again. His whole family looked at him with clear amusement, except for the kids who were beyond confused, but he chose to ignore their stares. 

“Okay, now that we have this sorted out,” Cris said. “Who wants some meat?”

People started shouting and pushing their plates at him with their requests while Keith climbed back onto the log and snuggled into his boyfriend’s side. “I love you,” he sang sweetly and Lance’s walls crumbled immediately. It wasn’t like he he has really had them up in the first place. 

“Love you too,” he mumbled back and leaned in for a kiss… and maybe a few more.

“Hey lovebirds,” Marco called with a grin on his face. “What’chu want?”

“CORN!” Lance shouted immediately and handed over his plate.

Keith tried so hard to resist but he just couldn’t. “Lance, you’re always so…” The younger looked at him curiously. “Corny.”

Lance continued to stare for a second before he groaned loudly. “Dios mio, you are awful. I hate you.”

“What can I say?” the older shrugged. “I learned from you.”

The Cuban got up and sat down next to his younger sister, removing the foil from his corn with a scowl on his face. Keith could see through his annoyed facade and was feeling quite smug about his accomplishment. 

“Keith, you want some meat or veggies? Or both?” Cris asked and Keith told him to just put a bit of both onto his plate. 

Sonia took the opportunity and climbed the log so she could sit down next to Keith. She made him help her with her corn and leaned into his side while she ate. It was adorable and Keith couldn’t deny feeling incredibly fond of those two kids that had managed to worm their way into his heart.

Lance said something in Spanish and Keith understood a few words of it individually. He wasn’t sure but he guessed his lover had asked ‘Are you stealing my boyfriend?’ or something along those lines. 

Sonia was quick to snuggle more into Keith’s side and replied with a cheeky ‘Si!’.

Her youngest uncle just snorted with a fond look on his face, deciding against telling her that Keith did not swing that way. It was better not destroy her little fantasy world for now. 

Eventually Lance moved back to Keith, completely by accident of course. He told his niece to scoot and she just stuck her tongue out at him. That little brat. Keith decided to solve the problem by making her sit on his other side. It was a bit of a tight fit but they managed. Sonia refused to let go of his arm so he had to eat with just one hand though.

Everything that came from the grill was delicious, Keith ate way too much and felt like he had gained at least ten pounds in the last two hours.

They had a lot of leftovers that would be gone within a day for sure. Someone was always hungry in the McClain household. Keith had learned not to be shy about wanting food. Someone was always eating and no one had a problem with him going into the kitchen to eat something.

It felt like he had reached a certain level of… familiarity now that he was comfortable in the kitchen. It might be a strange thing to say but the kitchen was just that one sacred place you didn’t barge into uninvited. Once you could navigate that space comfortably it was like you were a native inhabitant of that house.

Currently they were roasting marshmallows over the fire and Lance asked him if he would play something for them with those cute puppy eyes of his.

Keith in turn shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, if you want me to.”

A minute later he had Luis’ guitar in his lap and thrummed his fingers against the body as he thought of what to play.

“A least someone will use that guitar now,” Carmen said and sent her oldest child a pointed look. Luis just smiled sheepishly while Lisa snickered behind her hand.

Keith clipped the capo that had been in the case as well to the neck of the guitar and started playing the first cords of the song that had come to his mind just now. He was pretty sure none of them would know the song but that was okay. It was a Korean one after all. Euphoria by Jungkook from BTS. It kinda suited the campfire vibes they had going on right now. 

Lance listened attentively, holding both his and his lover’s marshmallows and making sure they wouldn’t burn. According to him he was incredibly good at that.

Sonia and Anton looked at Keith in awe, having never witnessed someone playing the guitar. They had tried to get their father to play for them but he had never gotten around to actually learning anything. 

Keith made it look so easy, fingers pulling strings effortlessly. He even managed to include some other beats by hitting the body of the guitar lightly in between different cords. It was enchanting, almost like magic, to the kids who had completely forgotten about their own marshmallow that were now at their parent’s disposal. 

When the song was over they clapped excitedly and begged him to play some more for them. It made him laugh and think of another song he could play. “I bet you know this one,” he said towards Lance who blinked in surprise. “Really, which one?”

“You’ll see,” Keith said smugly and started playing, keeping an eye on his lover who listened with furrowed eyebrows. It took him a while, until the choros was coming up, for him to recognize the song. When he did his eyes widened and he waved his hand around, humming the melody before he remembered the words.

“I know you love her, but it's over, mate. It doesn't matter, put the phone away. It's never easy to walk away, let her go. It'll be alright”

His lover smiled and nodded his head, continuing the song while Lance sang the lyrics next to him.

The kids loved it and it seemed everyone else enjoyed it as well. Though it wasn’t until Keith started playing Story of My Life by One Direction a while later that Rachel and Veronica broke out into the lyrics without warning. 

“Now you’ve gone and done it,” Lance said with a laugh as his sisters belted out the words with an undying passion. They even stood up and danced around the fire as the chorus came around. The kids joined them and at some point most of the McClains were singing the lyrics like a well-oiled machine. Even Lisa had joined them, singing without shame and Keith wondered if every Cuban could just sing perfectly. Like was that a trait all Cubans had?

He tried his luck and continued with What Makes You Beautiful and Lance all but shrieked in delight. He picked up Sonia and twirled her around which had her squealing. Anton danced with Rachel and Veronica while Luis and Lisa tried to slow dance but they were laughing too hard and screeching the lyrics as well.

Marco refused to dance but even he was kinda singing along while Cris and Carmen just watched their mess of a family with fond looks on their faces.

Everyone hollered and cheered when the song was over and Keith finally burst into loud laughter. “Seriously? One Direction is what gets y’all going?” he asked between burst of laughs and Lance grinned proudly. Her eyes were twinkling and he just looked so fucking happy.

“Yeah, man, that’s the latest shit!”

“Lance!” a bunch of people called out of habit and he smiled sheepishly for all about two seconds before going back to grinning. “But, Keith, mi amore, why the f-... why the everloving powder brush do you know how to play One Direction? Do I spot a secret fan?” he asked and leaned in with a teasing look on his face. 

“Some of their songs are just easy to play,” he said with a shrug. “Didn’t know I’d be stepping into Directioners-Territory here.”

“Oh these two had a phase for sure.” Lance gestured to his sisters who protested loudly. 

They spent roughly another hour outside around the fire, Keith playing some more songs for them before they started cleaning up. It was usually what people hated the most about these things but it was actually quite fun. Sonia and Anton had kidnapped the bowl of marshmallows and refused to help because they were busy eating. For once no one actually bothered to chide them for it. They would be dealing with a stomach ache soon enough anyway. That was enough of a lesson.

Luis and Lisa were still slow dancing for a few turns whenever they ran into each other. It was a rather sudden thought but Keith couldn’t help thinking they were great parents. They were in their early thirties and still seemed… to not have lost even an inch of their spirit. Keith had met more than enough people of the same age who were way too serious for their own good.

Sonia and Anton were really lucky to grow up in such a family. 

“Hey, space cowboy, what’cha thinkin’ ‘bout?” Lance asked, suddenly standing next to him. The older just smiled softly, glancing over to Veronica and Rachel who were arguing whether or not to put the leftover meat on a plate or into a bowl.

“Just…” Keith shrugged his shoulders and shuffled his feet a little, smile still present. “Just thinking that I really like it here.” He looked at Lance and he swore he could feel his heart soar in his chest when his lover’s expression lit up. His eyes twinkled and he looked so fucking happy about that simple statement. Keith loved it when he looked like that.

“That… that makes me really, really happy- holy shit.” Lance laughed and snuggled into his boyfriend’s side, the latter wrapping an arm around him and nuzzling him back. “I’m glad you like it here,” Lance said softly and Keith hummed.

They stayed snuggled up like that and Carmen just took one long look at them before sighing with a fond expression and telling them they were excused from any other cleanup duties.

Which is why they were staggering upstairs, giggling because they refused to let go, sneaking kisses between each other and all but falling into bed without even washing up.

They’d probably regret it in the morning but right now they couldn’t care less.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm uploading this and the next chapter only because someone commented to be honest. Didn't plan on finishing it but unfinished stories haunt me so I don't like them.   
> Hope the two chapters are somewhat okay, I kinda slapped some things together and wrote the ending. It's not perfectly edited so there will be typos. Dunno if I'll upload the other sequel I have. It's already finished but uh... yeah, I dunno.  
> Anyway, that's it and I hope it's okay.

“Hey, cariño?”

“Hm?” Keith was still sleepy and cuddled up in bed.

Lance smiled at him. A sleepy Keith in his bed was something he could get used to. “Have you ever ridden a horse?”

Well that woke Keith up a little. He blinked his eyes open to look at his boyfriend who was staring back at him curiously. “Wha- … uuh… no?” Keith more asked than said. “There aren’t really that many horses in Tokyo and I never really… had any interest?” Because horses were honestly kind… uh… scary? Not scary but sitting on one sounded pretty damn scary.

“Do you wanna try? We could do some exploring. Way better with horses,” Lance said, an almost promising smile on his face like he was genuinely excited about the idea though the other took a moment to stare at the younger, his brain needed a little to process what he had just heard. “You have horses?” he then asked, a little confused.

Lance snickered and rolled out of bed, patting his lover’s calves. “Come on, cariño, get your ass out of bed. We’re going exploring.”

Keith really wanted to remain in bed but somehow the prospect of exploring the area with Lance seemed like a really nice idea. 

Even when he was a little… wary about the whole horse part. 

“So… um…”

Lance was smiling wildly. “Aren’t they cute?”

Keith crooked his head a little, taking in the creatures before him. “I don’t know if cute is the word I would use for them,” he admitted a little unsurely, not quite knowing how to feel.

The Cuban had gotten two horses from a field close by which is where they always stayed. Apparently they had five in total. Three older ones and two childr- … foals from one of the mares. Those foals were fifteen and thirteen by now so maybe they shouldn’t be called foals anymore. Those two were also the ones Lance had gotten for them. 

One of them was a little taller with a dark chestnut coat while the other, shorter one was more on the caramel side. 

They looked… like horses to Keith who had absolutely no idea about horses so he wouldn’t say any more regarding this matter.

“That’s Coco,” Lance said and pointed to the darker one. “He can be a little shit sometimes but if you don’t bore him to death he’s fine with everything and this-” he pointed at the smaller one, “is Bonita. She’s a sweetheart. Wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

She did look very gentle… and she was kinda cute.

“Please tell me I get the sweet one,” Keith said nervously and his lover laughed. “Don’t worry, I’ll take Coco.” He pushed the fringy blue lead rope that was connected to Bonita’s halter into his lover’s hand and started walking away with Coco in tow.

“Lance!” Keith squeaked in a panicked manner but Bonita just followed them slowly so all Keith had to do walk next to her. Something he honestly wasn’t all that sure about either. What if she stepped on his foot? What if she ran off? Would she rear? Did horses bite?!

The Cuban was oblivious to his lover’s mental breakdown and just led them over to a barn where they tied up the horses. After showing Keith how to tie a proper knot they went and got some saddle gear from one of the barns as well as some brushes to clean up the horses a little bit. Lance told his lover that he and his sibling often went without saddles because it was quicker and easier that way but if they planned to go on longer tours it was better to use one. “Especially as a guy, it can get a bit… uncomfortable,” he had added and yeah, even Keith could have guessed that.

Brushing a horse was actually pretty easy. That was if you didn’t inhale all the dust and sand or didn’t get it into your eyes although Keith was still a bit scared of brushing the way his lover did because he didn’t want to hurt poor Bonita. Putting on the saddle gear was a whole nother deal that Lance did for Keith because why were there so many straps? How did all that connect? Where did all the ropes go? Why were there several buckles? What? So yeah, after a while of just watching and staring in confusion the horses were finally saddled up and all that was left to do was actually get on. Which was another problem. Lance had tried to explain it but Keith, even with his skater flexibility, somehow did not get the mechanics of getting up properly so they used one of the fences to get Keith onto his horse. 

“Good?” the Cuban asked his lover who was sitting atop Bonita and looked… not the most relaxed. He seemed kinda out of his element here.

“She won’t suddenly like… throw me off, right?” Keith asked unsurely, barely moving in fear of upsetting the horse. He couldn’t believe that he was sitting atop another living being. Why was he on top of a horse? He had no business up here! This was scary! He was neither mentally nor emotionally prepared to do this!

“She won’t,” Lance promised gently and patted the horse’s neck, a motion that Keith didn’t really understand. “Even if you were to kick her or yank on the reins she wouldn’t buck. Trust me. I rode her as a kid all the time when she was younger and even then she was always calm. You won’t upset her.”

“Okay… good to know.” Keith still sounded a little unsure but that’s how pretty much everyone was the first time they got on a horse. As promised Bonita remained still as Lance went back to Coco and was on his back in a matter of seconds. He looked at ease on the horse’s back and rode over to the other two without problem. 

“Alright then, some instructions.”

Oh how Keith loved instructions. Please tell him how to operate a horse! Because he had no freaking idea!

“First rule; don’t pull on the reins,” Lance said sternly. “I know it can happen sometimes and that’s okay but the reins are not for steering or a seatbelt. Just hold them loosely like this.” He gestured to his own hand that held the reins easily. “Or with both hands if you want to. If you have to hold onto something hold onto the mane. You won’t hurt her, don’t worry,” he added to ease the other’s nerves. “Now, our horses all listen to vocal cues pretty well so ‘easy’ for slowing down and-” he clicked his tongue, “together with some legwork for going faster. Pretty easy. It works better when you lean back for the slowing down part. They notice how you shift your weight.”

“Okay,” Keith said after a beat of silence and tried to remember all that. “So, no pulling, got that.” He wouldn’t want to pull on Bonita’s mouth. That would surely hurt a lot. Poor Bonita didn’t deserve that. “How do I steer this… her then?”

Lance grinned. “Like this.” Coco started turning on the spot slowly but Keith couldn’t figure out how he did it. The Cuban was still sitting up properly, his hands were relaxed… Was this telepathy? It must be.

“You steer with your legs,” Lance then explained and oh… maybe not telepathy… such a shame. “You press against their stomach and they’ll go there. Depending on how strong you do it they’ll turn more. We’ll try it, come on.” He clicked his tongue and Coco started walking. 

Keith panicked a little since Bonita wasn’t moving this time. “Lance?” he called, unsure of how to start his horse. Maybe Bonita didn’t want to walk? He couldn’t force her!

“Click you tongue!” the other called so Keith tried and- sweet mother of the skating gods!

He grabbed onto the horse’s mane and apologized mentally if he hurt her. This was the weirdest feeling ever! He could feel her muscles shifting beneath him, her shoulders going back and forth and… this was just… such a strange experience.

“I know,” Lance was suddenly next to him and grinned. “It’s a pretty cool feeling.”

“It’s strange,” Keith argued. “I’m scared I’m just gonna fall off.”

“You have your stirrups, you can balance out with that. Also your hips. Don’t sway too much but you can just… go with her rhythm.” Of course Lance would say to sway your hips, that’s what he always did.

Not in a million years would Keith have thought he’d sit on the back of a horse at some point in his life. But he tried to follow his lover’s advice and found it a little easier to go with Bonita’s movements after a while. They had already left behind the McClains’ house and were riding through fields of grass.

“Try to make her go to the side,” Lance said and Keith tried pressing his right leg into his horse’s side gently at first but increased the pressure as she didn’t react. Much to his surprise she actually changed her course slightly and walked straight again once he released the pressure. 

“Great!” Lance cheered happily. “You’re doing well.”

“We’re just going straight and really slow,” Keith muttered, not sure if he deserved this kind of praise for just sitting on a horse and trying not to fall off. 

“Yeah but Hunk was freaking out the first time I put him on a horse,” Lance said with a grin. “Should have seen his face. He kept on ranting and asking questions.”

Seeing the calm and collected Canadian panicking would surely be a sight and experience to behold.

They traveled through the fields and Keith found himself growing more and more comfortable on Bonita’s back. She really was a very gentle horse, always responding to Keith and just walking ahead for as long as no other instructions were passed on to her.

Coco seemed a bit easily distracted, sometimes wandering off or trying to stop somewhere and throwing his head back. Lance took it all in stride, never losing his cool and just steering his horse back to Bonita calmly. Losing patience with a horse was surely never a good idea.

Keith was glad Bonita was out of her rebellious teenager phase.

“You know, it would be really funny if we could just go to McDonalds and pick up some burgers like this. I’m kinda craving some,” Lance sighed wistfully at some point. Keith looked over to him and just took a moment to take in the way the younger looked. He was wearing a tanktop that had been in Keith’s suitcase at some point and a pair of soft grey shorts. His hair wasn’t straightened so it was ruffled and a tiny bit curly from his last shower.

It was a cute look. A really cute look.

“Why don’t we?” Keith asked and his boyfriend laughed so hard he was afraid he’d fall off his horse and break his neck. Thankfully he didn’t. Perhaps because he was a lot better at riding a horse than Keith could ever hope to be.

“Keith, my dude, my man. There is no McDonalds in Cuba,” Lance said and Keith gaped at him in shock. “What? Seriously?”

The younger hummed and snickered quietly. “Also no KFC or Dunkin Donuts or any other of that American stuff. Well, there are some down at the military base but surprise, surprise, Cuban citizens are not granted access to them.”

Keith could not wrap his head around the fact that there was no McDonalds in Cuba, not even in Havana! And that no one was allowed to enter the one that was there. “Holy shit,” he muttered. “I didn’t know that was even possible. Tokyo is littered with fast food chains… that’s so crazy. McDonalds is everywhere…”

Lance hummed. “That’s just how you know Cuba hasn’t turned into the biggest tourist attraction just yet but yeah that’s one of the few things I miss when I’m not in America. You cannot imagine the first time someone took me to McDonalds. It was a magical moment.”

The other snorted and shook his head. “I didn’t know something like that could have such an impact on anyone.”

“Imagine going your whole life without rice and then you finally find it.”

Keith huffed. “Rice without life is not a life.”

… wait, that sounded wrong.

Lance laughed again and this time Keith couldn’t help but laugh as well. If anyone saw them they would probably think they were drunk. Was riding a horse drunk illegal in Cuba? Was it illegal in any country? Those were questions that needed to be answered.

“We might not be able to get McDonalds but what do you say about ice cream?” Lance asked after they had calmed down from their laughing attack. “I know the best places and my handsome face always gets me a discount.”

“The first part I believe, the second part… not so much,” Keith teased and his lover squawked in an offended manner. “Rude!” He tsked and shook his head, keeping Coco from wandering off to munch on some grass. “Though it’s going to take quite a while at this pace. Are you up for trotting?”

“We’re going faster?” Keith asked somewhat panicked, his hold on the reins tightening immediately but never pulling on them. Lance had explained that the bridles were both bitless so the horses didn’t have any metal in their mouth but It was still not a good idea to yank on them because it could really hurt their nose bridge and was just plain uncomfortable. 

“If you want ice cream we have to,” Lance said with a soft smile. “Trott can be a little bit uncomfortable but only if you don’t know what you’re doing. You can’t sit still the whole time, you have to push yourself up with the horse’s rhythm because it’s really bouncy. We don’t want to fall back into the saddle because that’s not good for their spine - obviously - so instead we match our rhythm and then it’s a smooth ride.”

It sounded easy but Keith had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to look like and it was probably written on his face. 

“Alright, I’m gonna show you real quick. Can you stop Bonita?” Lance asked, sensing that his lover was a little lost with just his explanation.

“Uhh…” the Korean looked down at his horse. Where was the break for her again?

Wait, wait, lean back and…

He leaned back, mindful of the reins so he wasn’t pulling on them and Bonita slowed down before she stopped completely, shaking her head a little to chase some flies away.

“Great!” Lance called cheerfully. “If that doesn’t work just say ‘easy’ in a calming tone and she’ll know what’s up.” He passed Keith and went a up a little further ahead before turning Coco around. “Okay, just look at what i’m doing.”

Keith watching Lance… that was easy to do, he could do that much, no problem there.

It’s kinda what he always did anyway.

The younger clicked his tongue a few times and Coco did something strange. He kinda skipped the calm walking pace and fell into a different one - trott, apparently - and Lance seemed to use the stirrups to stand up in the saddle before gently sitting down again, repeating the process in quick succession.

The other watched in amazement as Lance demonstrated, riding around him in big circles. 

“You get it?” Lance asked and Keith nodded his head slowly after a few more moments of watching. The motion was easy to wrap his head around but he wasn’t so sure about the execution. “I think so?” he more asked than said and his lover slowed down again to come to a standstill next to him. “Doesn’t it get tiring though?”

“Not really.” The Cuban shrugged his shoulders. “Especially not with your stamina. You’re mostly using you horse’s momentum to get you ass out of the saddle. It might be a little shaky at first and it’ll feel a bit strange. You usually have to go faster than you think, beginners tend to go slow but with each step you either have to get up or sit down. If you want to figure out the rhythm you can look at her shoulders. Look at one side, when it goes back you go up and when it goes forward you sit down.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Keith mumbled after another moment of processing. Whether it actually was easy to do was a whole nothering thing but he was willing to try and he appreciated Lance taking some time to explain everything properly. 

This wasn’t like most sports where you were in charge of everything. The horse was basically in charge and it was quite honestly very terrifying to know that this animal underneath him had a mind of her own and could do whatever the heck she wanted. He doubted it would happen but the thought was still at the back of his mind.

Walking a dog was no comparison since you weren’t sitting on the dog… that would be morally questionable.

“Just remember not to lean forward too much, back straight, just like for skating. Ready to try it?” Lance asked and Keith took a deep breath before nodding. 

“Okay, so you have to click your tongue several times and use your legs as well just like when you’re changing directions but this time just press with both of them,” Lance instructed. “You can shift your weight forward so she knows you want to change the pace and she’ll follow.”

“I’m not gonna fall, right?” Keith asked worriedly and his lover squeezed his hand reassuringly. “No, you can keep your balance or steady yourself on her neck. If it’s too much just sit down in the saddle and lean back. She’ll slow down again.”

Okay.

He could do this.

“Ready?” Lance asked and pulled his hand back. Keith hummed in confirmation. 

Lance was the first to go, clicking his tongue and Coco responded immediately, obviously eager to go a little faster. Keith followed his example albeit more reluctantly and his speed up was not as quick. Bonita, the sweet angel, walked at first but once she realized he wanted her to go faster she made a little hopp and switched the pace. 

A very untypical squeak escaped Keith and yeah, he did have to steady himself because damn was this bouncy! Like sitting in someone’s lap who bounced their legs up and down and you were supposed to stay on. He’d refuse to admit that he had loved that game as a child.

It took a few moments before he remembered the instructions and tried the sitting up and down technique, quickly realizing that it was much more comfortable than trying to say put. It took a while before he had figured out a rhythm and could actually keep it. Once he did it was actually pretty smooth. Keeping the rhythm was a little hard for him since he was so inexperienced but after a little while it felt more comfortable.

It surely wasn’t perfect and he probably looked pretty awkward but a smile spread across his face as he could stop supporting himself and had found a fitting rhythm. 

“My love, you’re a natural,” Lance said with a sweet laugh as he came up next to them and Keith grinned at him.

This was a lot more fun than he had imagined. 

“If you want we can try canter at some point. Bonita won’t run off, she’s too lazy for that so you don’t have to worry about her dashing off like some other horses do,” Lance said, having to speak a little louder now. “But only if you want to. Canter is easier regarding sitting because you really just have to grind your ass into the saddle-” Keith choked on a laugh, “and stay put but it’s obviously faster so we can wait before we try that.”

“I’m good for now,” the Korean said with a laugh. “But maybe later.”

Lance smiled and nodded his head before looking ahead again. His short hair was bouncing up and down with his movements and he looked genuinely happy. He then clicked his tongue and sped up a little. “We can go faster that that!” he called over his shoulder with a teasing grin and Keith was more than ready to accept the challenge.

They arrived at the nearest cluster of homes and a few small shops roughly fifteen minutes later and Keith had to admit that trott actually was not exactly tiring. It would surely be if you did it for long periods of time but right now he wasn’t exactly winded which was nice. 

He was, however, quite surprised as they just rode through the streets like it was completely normal to do that. You’d never see someone riding a horse through the streets of Tokyo casually. He wasn’t even sure if that was allowed but here it seemed to be somewhat common or even normal. They had come across two other riders a while ago and even here on the streets no one looked at them strangely. 

The only reason they looked was because they recognized Lance. They’d call his name and wave at him, shouting a few things in Spanish that would make the figure skater laugh and thank them. Some of the people, if not most, also stared at Keith because it was quite rare to see Asians here. He kinda stood out like a little bit but the stares weren’t mean or judging, only curious. 

A group of children also spotted them, stopping their playing around on the streets and cheering gleefully as they saw Lance. They shouted things at him and jumped up and down in delight after rushing closer. The Korean was a little worried the horses would react in a hostile or scared manner but they didn’t and the kids seemed to know how to act around the animals. Apparently everyone had a bit of knowledge regarding them here. 

Lance just laughed and stopped his horse as the kids crowded around them, Keith following suit. The younger bent down a little and talked to the kids who seemed to be beyond excited to see him.

Keith didn’t really understand much of the conversation except for a few little words that could mean one or another thing but it was still interesting to witness the conversation.

Suddenly everyone turned to him and he startled a little. Lance also looked at him before grinning and turning back to the kids. “Mi amor,” he said and yeah, Keith knew what that meant and felt a little flustered as the kids all gasped and looked at him with big eyes. They started talking all over each other and Lance laughed loudly, especially at Keith’s confused face. 

He calmed the group of kids down and exchanged a few more words with them before they all ran off happily and went back to playing. Lance just smiled somewhat smugly and continued like nothing had happened, Keith coming up next to them with Bonita.

“What did they said,” he asked and the other snickered.

“That they like your mullet.” Keith gave him a rather unimpressed stare but Lance didn’t elaborate until almost a minute later. “They said you’re cool and look like a prince.”

That…

Oh…

Wow…

“Oh,” Keith somewhat squeaked, feeling his face grown hot and Lance smirked at him. “Oh no, mullet-man, looks like you’re getting sunburn all over you face. What shall we do?”

“Shut up, Lance.”

The younger just laughed and led them down a certain street until he came to a stop outside a tiny store that sold ice cream among other things. “Hola, Pablo!” he called cheerfully and the man behind the display looked up in surprise, the woman he had been talking to also turning towards them. 

“Lance!” he called back just as cheerfully before starting a rant in Spanish. Keith wasn’t used to not understanding what was going, speaking three language - especially one that was extremely common - helped a lot usually but not here, so he just stared back and forth as the two exchanged words at an almost alarming speed. It actually wasn’t that they spoke super fast, it was just that the language sounded incredibly fast to Keith’s untrained ears. 

“Oh, sí, sí!” Pablo called happily, looking thrilled.

Though that even Keith could understand.

The man approached the display of ice cream which wasn’t more than three flavors but Keith hadn’t expected much more and still looked forward to it. Sometimes less was better and it wasn’t like he actually experimented with his choice all that often.

“What do you want?” Lance asked, switching back to English effortlessly which never ceased to amaze Keith who often forgot that he had this habit as well and could switch between languages without too much of a struggle. Still, seeing other people do it always amazed him and Spanish sounded so very different, kind of foreign, to his ears that he sometimes forgot Lance also spoke English with the same amount of ease. 

“Oh um… just chocolate,” Keith said and Lance nodded. He approached the small shop with his horse, either too lazy to get off or not seeing the need. Keith wasn’t sure but it was such a funny sight to him that he couldn’t help but snicker quietly. At this point he wished he had a good camera in his phone so he could snap a pic of the scene but just staring to burn it into his memory would have to make do for now. 

There were a few old plastic chairs and small tables set up in front of the shop that Lance steered around effortlessly and Coco didn’t look freaked out in the least. Either he was a very relaxed horse or he was just used to this kind of thing. Since it seemed to be common to take the horses for a ride through town he guessed the latter also played a big role in his calm behavior. Bonita as well, obviously, but she seemed to be more laid back in general like she couldn’t be bothered to be freaked out about anything. Something Keith appreciated very much.

Lance came back with two scones of ice cream after presumably thanking Pablo and saying a few more words. The reins hung over Coco’s neck loosely but the horse didn’t seem bothered by it in the least.

“There you go,” the younger said and handed one of the scones over to Keith who was now comfortable enough to hold the reins in just one hand so his other would be free to hold the scone, copying Lance who had also picked up his reins again. The older startled licking up some trails of chocolate that were already starting to melt and hummed happily at the flavor. 

“What do I owe you?” he asked and Lance huffed, rolling his eyes before grinning. “A kiss?” he suggested, leaning over so Keith could reach him easily. The latter rolled his eyes as well but indulged his lover, kissing him on the lips which Lance then licked happily. 

“Chocolaty,” he proclaimed happily before starting to have a go at his own vanilla ice cream and making Coco walk back the way they came from. 

“Oh, by the way!” he said after a while and let go of the reins again to whip out his phone from god’s know where, holding it up without being concerned about his balance. “Say ‘ice cream’!” he called happily and Keith noticed that he had the camera open so he just smiled.

He had long given up on complaining about the sudden smile-instructions because his boyfriend would take a pic whether the older was ready or not so just smiling was the best option.

And the pics were pretty nice to look at. 

“Aww, we look so cute,” Lance sighed dreamily as he inspected the selfie, seeming content with the result since he put his phone away again. “This is the kind of date you can only have in Cuba,” he said with a laugh and Keith had to agree. Never had he imagined to eat ice cream on the back of a horse and riding through the streets of a small town with his significant other but it was one of the best date ideas ever. 

He’d surely miss the Cuban kind of freedom and laid-back mindset once he was back in busy-old Tokyo…

Don’t think about being apart again!

Enjoy the moment!

Easier said than done but he tried his best.

“On the way back we can try canter,” Lance called happily and Keith hummed, also wanting to know what it would feel.

Once back home he made Lance promise that they would do that again soon and his lover just laughed and agreed wholeheartedly. 

Best. Date. Ever.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter~  
> Shortened it to six chapters

“Y’all, eyebrows on fleek.”

“Dafuq.”

Everyone stared at Keith who looked up from his phone innocently. 

“Lance,” Rachel said in a stage whisper and grabbed her brother’s arm. “Lance, he knows memes.”

“I just learned that he actually lives in the 21st century,” Lance said like he couldn’t believe it either. “I thought I was dating a vampire from the middle ages. He has no clue about the world and have you seen his flip phone? It’s ancient. Ancient! He’s from last century!”

“He certainly has the vibes,” Veronica said without looking up from filing her nails.

“Oh fuck y’all.” Keith rolled his eyes and went back to his phone. Yes it was a flip phone. It worked, sue him. Though he was more and more inclined to get a better phone now that he had friends all over the world who were very keen on chatting and keeping up with him. His poor flip phone couldn’t deal with all the memes he got.

The three McClains were currently doing a ‘spa routine’ and Keith had been dragged into it as well. He had refused to do any face masks or anything similar but he didn’t mind laying on the couch in Rachel’s room and just being present without actually doing anything. 

There was music from Spotify being played in the background, a playlist of old chart hits that Keith had all kind of heard before. Rachel’s room was pretty simple with a long bookshelf and a fluffy carpet in front of the couch. Her bed was made from white wood with a bunch of throw pillows on them. One of them had apparently been knitted by Sonia - with the help of her mother - as a birthday present. They were all colorful and mismatched but Keith had learned that nothing was uniform in the McClain household and it was incredibly charming.

Veronica was busy doing her nails, lying on her sister’s bed and kicking her feet in the air lazily. Rachel was seated on the floor and debating what nail polish to use on her toes. Lance had recommended the dark red one, Keith had shrugged his shoulders and Veronica had voted for nude. Keith still wasn’t sure why a shade was called nude. Like… was it one specific shade? Because his nude and Lance’s nude were already two very different tones. Keith was more on the pale side, leaning more towards beige according to Lance, while the latter’s skin was warm like melted caramel - did Keith sometimes think about just nibbling on Lance? … yes - and seemed to glow in the sun. How could ‘nude’ be the same for everyone? And if there were many different versions of nude then weren’t it different colors in the end? 

He was very confused and hadn’t found and answer yet. Lance had been teaching him a little about makeup and those things but Keith was more intimidated than educated to be honest.

Lance said something in Spanish and his sisters snickered. Even though Keith thought his Spanish was beautiful he still pouted because he couldn’t understand. Lance just smiled at him sweetly and patted his knee. 

“That’s mean,” Keith complained and Lance awed in mock pity. “Oh no, I’m so sorry, babes.”

Keith said something back in Japanese and this time it was Lance who pouted while his boyfriend grinned. They mostly spoke English to one another since that was the only language they could actually use to communicate. Sometimes they fell back into Japanese or Spanish if they couldn’t find the right words or simply to annoy the other. It was kind of funny that they had to use a language that wasn’t native to either of their homes to talk to one another.

From Lance’s tone Keith could meanwhile guess what kind of things he said and he was sure most of them were cheesy love confessions. It was cute, especially when Lance got flustered afterwards. He was prone to being even more emotional when speaking in Spanish, using beautiful metaphors that he didn’t dare to use in English. Sometimes he also whispered a soft ‘te amo’ before going to sleep or when he laced their fingers together. 

Keith, in turn, also did it in Japanese. There were different ways of saying ‘I love you’ and for him it had taken a while to figure out which version would be appropriate. He had started out with a light one but lately, especially since he had landed in Cuba, he had started using the really, really romantic ones and he was probably more flustered about this than Lance was. Obviously, since Lance didn’t know the difference. Yesterday at night they had laid in bed, waiting for sleep to get to them and Keith, without really thinking, had uttered ‘ai shiteru’ and had promptly been wide awake again. 

That was like… the level of ‘I love you’ that you use for your forever partner. Not that he planned to break up with Lance in the near future or anything but this phrase was _ serious business _ and he had just said it out loud. 

Lance had noticed Keith’s dilemma and had looked at him sleepily. “What?” he had asked, the word slurred. 

Keith had been unable to look at him without exploding so he had turned onto his side and curled up. His lover, thoroughly confused even in his half asleep state, had draped himself across him and had whined into his ear. “Bebe, what was that?” he had asked in that adorable voice of his that always appeared when he was really sleepy.

“Nothing,” Keith had mumbled in an attempt to put this ordeal behind them. He really wasn’t one who was good at talking about these things. He might have gotten better at flirting and saying cheesy things but talking about  _ love _ was still just… he couldn’t do it. It was such a big word and incredibly intimidating to be honest. Thinking about it and actually talking about it to someone were two very different things.

“Hm, no, tell me.” Sadly Lance had insisted and whenever Lance insisted on something it was better to give in because he could be incredibly persistent. 

“It just means I love you.” It had been a attempt to get Lance off his tail but even a sleepily Lance was too observant to let that slide.

“You said that before, didn’t sound the same.” Of course Lance would remember the ring of the words Keith had uttered before. Keith had wanted to whine into his pillow but he was a grown adult so he faced things head on… most of the time… sometimes… rarely. He wasn’t a very good adult, okay? Shiro was way better at that than he could ever hope to be. Keith was kind of managing to keep himself alive but he had no idea what the fuck he was doing most of the time. He was glad he didn’t have a normal office job because he was sure he’d barely make it a week before fucking up and getting himself fired. 

“It just… there are different ways to say ‘I love you’, you know?” he had mumbled quietly. “And there are the casual kinds and the… the kind that’s like ‘I love you more than anything else and I’ll stay with you for eternity’.” The urge to disappear had been rather strong.

He had been able to feel Lance staring at him intently. “Was what you just said the latter kind?” he had asked, voice both a little teasing and… maybe pleased? Happy?

Keith had just shoved his face into a pillow and grunted. 

“It was?”

Another grunt.

Lance had squealed in excitement and cuddled against Keith’s back, smushing his face into the space between his shoulder blades. He might not be able to fully comprehend the different connotations but he could see what effect the words had on Keith and what he had just said had obviously been a big deal so he more than appreciated it. 

“I also love you forever and ever, mi cielo. Te amo.”

Keith’s heart had skipped happily in his chest and he had been unable to suppress a warm smile. He had turned in Lance’s arms and cuddled closer to his boyfriend in a tangle of limbs.

Lance shifted to get onto his knees and climbed onto the couch to flop down on top of Keith who only grumbled a little at the additional weight. They remained in the same position without moving, just snuggling while Lance hummed in tune with the songs that were playing. 

“You know,” Veronica said at some point, finally done with her nails and turning to look at the cuddling pair, “I really wasn’t sure if you two actually fit together at first.”

The couple looked at her curiously, Lance even huffing a small ‘hey’ in protest. His sister just smiled. “No, it was just because you two are really different and I know Lance, obviously, and… sorry, Keith but you didn’t seem like the kind of guy that’s be interested in the kind of relationship Lance would want.”

Keith crooked his head. “Non taken… and same, honestly.” He ran a hand through Lance’s hair absentmindedly. The other hummed and smushed his cheek more against Keith’s chest. “I didn’t think I’d actually end up in a relationship… didn’t think I’d enjoy it to be honest.”

“But I changed your mind?” Lance asked curiously, a happy glint in his eyes as he peeked up at his boyfriend from under his lashes.

Keith pursed his lips in thought. “Hm… no, I didn’t change my mind. I still think I wouldn’t be good in a relationship with anyone else except you. It’s just…” Keith ran his nails down Lance’s nape who shuddered faintly at the sensation. “Really easy with you? I dunno but it’s nice and I don’t feel like I have the whole relationship thing following me constantly. It just works and that’s… really nice.” He drew some patterns between Lance’s shoulders absentmindedly. “I’m not good with this whole relationship thing, never was, and I didn’t want to feel tied down. Kind of made me think I’d probably be a bad boyfriend.”

Lance huffed unhappily, obviously disagreeing. “You’re the best boyfriend,” he muttered, wrapping his arms more around Keith and hugging him close. “And I think this is really nice too. ”

Lance’s sisters shared a knowing look before going back to what they were doing before and leaving those two cuddly love birds to themselves. It was only when they starting to get really cheesy that they were kicked out. 

“There is only so much we can take of your cheesy love so go make out in Lance’s room or whatever you do up there,” Rachel said before closing the door in front of their faces. 

The two just looked at one another. 

“Hammock?” Keith asked, tilting his head. 

Lance grinned, grabbing his lover’s hand to pull him outside and towards the hammock put up between two trees. Once there they continued cuddling like a pair of otters for another hour.

“NO!” Sonia screeched and kicked her legs. “NO!”

“Chiquita,” Lance said softly but the girl made another sound of protest. She was clinging to Keith who looked very unsure of what to do and almost guilty. He was stroking her back in an attempt to calm her down while she hid her face in his shoulder and cried like a broken faucet. 

“Oh my, this will be a problem,” Lisa mumbled, watching the spectacle in the foyer. 

The dreaded day had arrived. Keith’s plane back to Japan was leaving in a little less than five hours and the lovers were about to leave. Ever since yesterday evening the twins had protested, Sonia especially and now it seemed she was trying to take Keith hostage to force him to stay with her. 

“Can’t he stay?” Anton asked with a wobbly voice, looking up at the adults with tearful puppy eyes. Luis bent down to his son, speaking to him in Spanish with a gentle voice and ruffling his hair when Anton started crying. 

“Y’all,” Lance now sniffed as well. “Stop this cry-feast immediately! I didn’t want to cry yet!”

Sonia and Anton wailed, now both of them clinging to Keith who felt horrible. 

“Don’t leave,” Sonia sobbed and he sighed sadly. “I have to,” he said softly and she whined. “I have to go back home, hm?”

She shook her head. “No, you can s-stay here!”

Lance sniffled and wiped his eyes in at attempt to stop himself from crying. When the kids cried like this he was usually never safe from the same fate. Today especially so. He obviously didn’t want Keith to leave either but it wasn’t like he could cling to his legs and beg him to stay. Perks of being a kid. When they did it it was okay but when Lance did it it wasn’t. 

“I’d love to,” Keith said. “But I can’t. I have to start practising again and Shiro probably misses me too. I can’t stay here forever.”

Sonia just shook her head, unwilling to let go of him. Keith slowly crouched down and placed her back onto her own feet. She and Anton still didn’t let go of him and the whole situation was tugging at his heartstrings painfully. He had never imagined he’d be able to grow this attached to the twins within just such a short amount of time. Much less having them being this distressed about him leaving again. He felt horrible for putting them through this but it wasn’t like he could really do anything. “You can call me and we can Skype if you want to,” he offered in an attempt to sooth them somehow. 

“B-but I want you to stay,” Anton sniffled. 

Keith smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, but I can visit you again at some point, okay?” he wasn’t sure if that was okay. Then again, Carmen and everyone had told him be better come back soon because they would miss him as well and liked having him around so maybe visiting again wasn’t completely out of question. He sure wanted to because he had grown to love this family and also the area where they lived. It was so different to what he was used to.

The twins didn’t look much happier but it seemed they had at least understood that Keith couldn’t stay with them. They actually leaned back a little and probably wouldn’t throw another fit when he tried to leave. Keith deemed it safe to stand back up again and readjusted his backpack. 

It was time to say goodbye and Rachel was the first who came up to hug him. “Get back home in one piece,” she said and squeezed his shoulders. 

“I’ll try,” Keith said with a smile.

Veronica was next followed by Lisa and Luis. Marco clapped him on the back and wished him all the best for practise and the upcoming competitions. Keith was glad they hadn’t stayed on complicated terms for long because Marco was really nice and easy to talk to. 

Cris squeezed the air out of Keith’s lungs. The poor man looked close to tears as well like he was sending his own son off to the military. He had Keith promise to come back soon and to please keep them updated. They’d watch his competitions and cheer for him as well.

Carmen squished his cheeks before kissing them. She went on a long rant about what a nice young man he was and how handsome he was and that he needed to eat properly and to please call her and to tell her if she should send him food or clothes and if he ever needed a place to sleep he could also come here and - “He doesn’t live on the streets, mama,” Lance said with a huff. “He does have a home and he also managed to survive until now. He won’t suddenly starve.”

“Oh shush,” Carmen hissed and slapped Lance’s shoulder. 

Keith just smiled and thanked all of them again before stepping out of the house one last time. Once his luggage was stored away on the bed of Lance’s truck Keith turned back to the door to wave. Anton and Sonia were waving with their entire bodies, shouting at him to come back soon. Their parents were holding them back from racing towards the car while the rest of the family was waving as well with sad smiles. 

“Thanks for letting me stay,” Keith called and waved as well before climbing into the car. “Okay,” he said once the door was shut and he was fastening his seatbelt. “Ready to go?” He looked over at his boyfriend when he didn’t get an answer immediately and could only huff as he saw Lance staring ahead and looking like he was trying not to cry. 

“Come one,” Keith teased and nudged the other’s shoulder. “We still have some hours left.”

“Don’t remind me,” Lance snapped poutily, staring the car and wiping his eyes again with an ugly sniff before slowly driving down the driveway. 

Keith looked back at his lover’s family one last time, the sad feeling in his chest soaring almost painfully before he forced himself to look ahead again. It hadn’t really hit him yet that he was leaving. He didn’t want to leave. Not really. Of course he missed Shiro and Tokyo and fish and rice and skating but… he’d miss the beach and the McClain family, the easy going attitude and freedom of Cuba, lazy mornings and riding horses… 

And Lance. 

He didn’t want to think about it but having to part from Lance was hurting him more than he had ever thought was possible. He had shoved the thought to the very back of his head for this entire stay and even now he didn’t want to acknowledge it. Enjoying their last hours together seemed like the best thing he could do even when the sad feeling in his chest wouldn’t go away entirely.

The radio was playing the same Cuban station Lance always listened to, the windows were rolled down a little and in the cup holder was a big cup of Carmen’s famous iced tea. Actually cold this time. It felt strangely familiar and yet like an out of body experience. Like someone had thrown Keith into an alternative reality and he wasn’t quite sure if what was going on was actually right. Like something different was supposed to happen and they were going off the timeline.

He sighed quietly and looked out the window, following the still familiar streets that he had come to know during his time here. It felt like when you had been on vacation, had gotten accustomed to the neighborhood and had built a routine for yourself and now you suddenly had to leave it all behind. Like the bubble was suddenly bursting and you had to return to reality. It wasn’t a nice feeling, like an entire era was coming to an end and you could do nothing to stop it from happening. 

“I wish you could have stayed longer,” Lance said quietly and Keith hummed in agreement. “Still would have had to leave at some point though.” It was the depressing reality and Lance pouted sadly. 

“Still,” he mumbled like a child. Similar to how Anton and Sonia had argued and it made Keith smile softly. 

“It’s not like I’m gonna disappear.”

“No but I’m gonna be alone again,” Lance argued. “Like, I have to wake up alone again. I don’t have someone to cuddle in my bed and I can’t kiss you and I can’t drag you on some stupid adventure and I can’t laze on the beach with you and…” He trailed off, biting his lip. He was stopping himself before he could get too worked up and would cry again. He took a deep, somewhat shaky breath. “I’m just really gonna miss you.”

“I know,” Keith mused quietly. “Me too.” He reached over the middle console to where Lance’s hand was draped over the gear stick. Lance grabbed his hand without even having to look.

It felt unreal that their time together was actually coming to an end so they tried to fill the time with talking about this and that, recalling their adventures and funny moments. It was kind of nostalgic but they did their best not to get too upset. They were likely saving their tears for the airport and this time Keith might just cry as well. Last time he had refused to but now he wasn’t sure if he was strong enough. Especially because he’d be alone without Shiro to distract him. 

Lance had driven no faster than when he had picked Keith up from the airport but the drive had felt so much shorter. Suddenly the car was coming to a stop in a parking space and Lance climbed out almost robotically. Keith followed him and together they made their way into the airport. After checking in Keith's luggage there… wasn’t really much more to do. Keith’s flight would leave in about one hour and he still had to get through security and immigration so… this was it.

“I just want you to know that I don’t like this at all,” Lance grumbled, looking away stubbornly as if that could stop his tears from slowly working their way up.

“That makes two of us,” Keith sighed. He looked down at the floor which was too white and too perfect and too clean and just not right. He wanted to be back at Lance’s house, in his room and cuddling on his bed or the hammock outside or maybe on the beach. A heavy sigh escaped him and he rubbed his neck. “Next time is… probably going to be at a competition, huh?”

Lance pursed his lips and nodded, also looking down. “Probably… yeah… At least we’ll see each other more often when the season picks up again. I guess…”

Keith shuffled his feet. “You know you can also stay with me whenever you want, right? Like, you can also practise with me at my rink so maybe we can… see each other a little more often between competitions,” he said and Lance tilted his head a little, looking at his lover with a small sad smile. “Yeah, that would be nice… Then you can show me Tokyo and all that cool stuff.”

“We don’t have horses or these nice beaches though.”

Lance laughed lightly. “Wasn’t what I was expecting anyway. I don’t need those, just spending time with you is enough.”

Keith’s heart fluttered in his chest. Logically he of course knew this but hearing Lance say this was an entirely different feeling. He reached out to take his boyfriend’s hands and squeezed them. Lance took this as an invitation to lean in and kiss him. There was a certain kind of desperation behind it but Keith didn’t mind. He returned the favor and knew he’s miss this a lot when Lance leaned back again. His eyes were teary but he seemed to hold on for now.

“Get home alright, yeah?” he mumbled. “And text me when you land.”

Keith smiled softly. “Yeah, you too. Watch the road, okay? Don’t cry the whole time.”

Lance sniffed and pouted, turning his head slightly. “I’ll try,” he grumbled. “My boyfriend is leaving, I can cry if I want to.”

“Sure.” Keith decided to humor him. His own eyes were burning and he was sure he looked very close to crying as well. They stood there like idiots for minutes, just holding hands and not wanting this moment to end. Sadly everything had to end at some point. Time didn’t stop, even for lovers. 

“I should go,” Keith said quietly. He was afraid that if he spoke any louder his voice would actually break. Lance sniffed again and nodded his head. It seemed to physically pain him to let go of Keith’s hands and he clasped them together immediately afterwards.

“I’m gonna miss you,” Lance mumbled and Keith hummed. “Same.”

More time ticked by, Lance wiped a tear away from his eyes and took a shaky breath. “Okay, I… just… te amo, cariño,” he said softly. The lump in Keith’s throat grew heavier. “Yeah,” he managed to get out in a choked up way. Actually leaving become more and more real with each passing second. “Love you too, momo-chan.”

Lance smiled weakly, wiping at his eye again. “Good flight.”

Keith nodded, pulling his lover in for one last kiss. He wiped a tear away from Lance’s cheek and managed a sad smile. “Love you,” he whispered. Lance sniffed and nodded. He was afraid of bursting into ugly sobs if he said anything. Keith slowly inched away before he steps grew more controlled. He was walking kind of sideways, half looking at Lance and half approaching the rather deserted security. There weren’t many people mingling around. 

His heart ached with every step he took, even when he waited for the woman in front of him to put her bag into one of those plastic baskets. Lance was still there, watching him, and Keith wanted to run back but he knew if he did he wouldn’t be able to leave again. He couldn’t see if Lance was crying but he was sure he was. He himself had to reach up to wipe a tear away before it could roll down his cheek. He really didn’t cry easily but now he felt like he could break down sobbing in some small bathroom stall.

The guy from security said some things in Spanish Keith didn’t understand but he was familiar enough with flying to know what it meant. He got through security without problem, shoved his tablet, phone and small toiletry bag back into his backpack and shouldered it absentmindedly. There were glass walls and metal construction between them so the view was kind of obscured but he could still spot Lance in his bright blue tank top, jean shorts and yellow flip flops.

Lance managed a sad smile and waved. Keith’s heart ached even more but he waved back. He really wanted to scale the walls so he could hug Lance one last time, maybe steal another kiss. Sadly it wasn’t possible so… he’d have to wait until the next time they saw one another. 

It felt like leaving all over again. He had to leave security to get to the gates and waiting area and he knew he’d have to do it now. Dragging it out even longer wouldn’t help them. So sent a flying kiss in Lance’s direction, something stupid he’d usually never even dream of doing, but it made the other laugh softly so it was somewhat of an accomplishment. Keith waited for one last wave from Lance before steeling himself and turning around. The corner was right there, he just had to step past it. 

He glanced back at Lance who was still waiting, took him in one last time before finally stepping out of sight.

The next time they saw one another would be several weeks if not a few months from now but Keith knew that as soon as he had an internet connection he’d try to call Lance. They hadn’t even seperated for a minute but he was already missing him.

He couldn’t wait until he saw Lance the next time and could finally kiss him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Drop by to talk to me, I'd love to hear what you think [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Dancing_Skys) [Tumblr](https://voltronskys.tumblr.com/)


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